Before Malfoy Had It Goin' On!
by weasleykingrocks
Summary: Previously titled 'A Prequel Of Sorts'. It's a prequel to Malfoy's Got It Goin' On! in the form of series of separate one-shots, dealing with Rose's and Scorpius's fluctuating feelings for each other before the main story started. Read and Review!
1. November, 2020

**This chapter was written a long time back. I found it a few days back when I was deleting useless items saved on my laptop. **

**Just thought I'd post it since it'll take some time for me to post chapter 12 of the other story. My own way of making peace. **

**Originally a one-shot, it inspired me to write a series of one-shots based on Rose and Scorpius's life before MGIGO. But the one-shots would be in no particular order. **

**It's pretty long. So try and not doze off to sleep!**

* * *

**Disclaimer:**** Everything recognizable is owned by JKR. No copyright infringement intended. **

* * *

**1. November, 2020**

Rose sighed. She had no idea why she was so addicted to this muggle romance novel. Her mother had made her read loads of them, but this was one novel she could never get enough of.

She sighed once again as Darcy proposed marriage to Elizabeth. She ate two spoons of bacon as she read further. She wondered if she would have a happy ending with her Darcy. Her dashing, arrogant best friend Darcy who wasn't even aware for the crazy feelings she had for him.

"Hey Rose!"

_Speak of the devil._

Rose looked up from her book to see two teenage boys sit across her apprehensively.

They smiled hopefully at her. She gave them a glare and went back to her book.

"Rooooose!" Albus Potter whined, "Just give it up alright! We're sorry!"

She ignored him.

"If not him, at least talk to me," said Scorpius Malfoy, exasperated, "I'm your future husband after all"

She ignored him too.

"ROSIE!" Both chorused.

Rose looked up again to glare at them. "You call me Rosie once again, and you'll wish you'd never been born. Bat Bogey Hex is still very strong," she touched the tip of nose.

"Oh come on Rose! Give us a break!", said Scorpius, buttering his toast, "All we did was-"

"Add dragon claw powder to my potion when I wasn't looking! You ruined my perfect potion!" said Rose, seething in her place as she remembered her yesterday's Potions class, where her cauldron had exploded, covering the ones in the vicinity with respectable amount of her good brew of Shrinking Solution, "Why me? I thought you had said you were going for Julio Baxter?"

"We have our reasons!"

"Really?! Do pray-tell!"

"One because you were the safest target," began Albus, biting into his toast, "Sluggy would never think we'd prank you."

"Two, you are the best potion brewer in our year," added Scorpius, "After me of course."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Then you could have added it in your potion"

"And three, you were the one closest to Ryan Bighead Smith," continued Scorpius as if he hadn't heard her, "So it was a better aim that way."

"Ryan Smith was your main aim? I thought you were doing it because you were bored! Are James and Fred involved in this?" asked Rose, narrowing her eyes.

Albus looked sheepish, "Well they did help smuggle in Dragon claw powder. But they should not be the only ones allowed to prank that guy!"

"And Rose," said Scorpius, with a knowing look in his eyes, "You did find it amusing when the Bighead's head shrunk to one-fourth its size. I did see you smiling, so don't deny it. Don't try and say it was cruel and mean and…well scold us like you are, you know, the noblest person around or something."

Rose looked down immediately, colour flooding her cheeks. She hadn't joined in the laughter (they ruined her potion!), but she was very amused when she saw Ryan Smith running around in the dungeon, clutching his tiny head, and squealing like a girl. The fact that Scorpius did find the time to see her reaction to the explosion made a tingle go down her spine. She hated him for having such a huge effect on her.

Was she kidding herself? She loved him.

"Though it's a pity," continued Scorpius, "That his head wasn't the intended target."

Rose frowned in confusion.

"Well," started Scorpius, smiling mischievously, "He does think he's a hit with girls. So I just wanted to make him a little unpopular."

Albus snorted into his goblet of pumpkin juice, whereas Rose gaped at him.

"You're a sick git, you know that!" she said, feeling disgusted. She pushed her plate of breakfast away from her.

"No! I'm just funny. And I know it adds to my absolutely sexy personality," said Scorpius smugly.

Rose snorted, "Yeah right!" There were loads of things that added to his personality he had no idea about. She knew them, since she had spent hours just staring at him or thinking about him.

His smirk became more prominent. "I know you cannot resist me when I'm funny and so damn dashing. Admit it, Weasley."

His unique pale blue eyes were dancing with mischief, the smile on his face was playful and his whole face was alight. His jaw was becoming more defined with each passing year. So was his body, filling out brilliantly with each Quidditch practice and match, not to mention that he was shooting up in height rather quickly. Merlin! Why did he have to be so gorgeous?!

"You make me want to throw up, really, you do."

"Rose, I know you want me. Just say the words and I'm yours," he said, his voice becoming deeper and more mature as he leaned closer. Rose got a whiff of the expensive cologne she had bought for him as a gift for his fifteenth birthday the previous week. As much as she was pleased that he was using it, the smell meant trouble for her. Every time she got a whiff, it sent her reeling, without fail. She had bought the cologne to give him a hint about her feelings, but Merlin! The blonde was denser than the densest thing in the world.

She gathered herself before she made a fool of herself.

"Oh yes Scorpius! I secretly lust for you. I cannot wait to have kids with you," said Rose, batting her eyelashes and pouting, while Albus chuckled.

"Fine. You. Me. My Dorm. NOW," said Scorpius, winking.

Rose rolled her eyes, "You need better pick up lines, Malfoy."

"Two of us are going to have really good-looking babies, you know that? So hop on for a ride, dear. We'll ask Daddy Weasley and Daddy Malfoy to throw a party to celebrate reunion of two souls."

"You know," interrupted Albus, "It's actually pretty disturbing, thinking about both of you getting together."

"I'm still straight," drawled Scorpius sitting straighter to put emphasis on his point, making Albus chuckle, "And I have no plans to swing the other way."

Rose felt stung as she heard him make that statement. As always.

She was known as one of the boys. She was short even for her own age. She had a million freckles which made her face look absolutely despicable. She had inherited her mother's rather large front and uneven teeth, and to correct them she was currently wearing braces, making her feel more conscious. She had the frizziest red hair which was affectionately nicknamed 'copper wires' by Scorpius, not to mention she hadn't developed the real curves yet. She was _fourteen _for heaven's sake! It was either now or never!

The only thing she liked about herself were the eyes she had inherited from her father. But then, the list of her favourite physical features ended there.

She had been mocked endlessly by her peers because of her looks many times in the past, but she didn't care, since she knew that it was the beauty on the inside that really mattered. But now she doubted if that was enough.

What made her more cognizant of her appearance this year was the fact that Scorpius had started to notice girls around him. He would always look twice (and many more times) at any girl who looked good or had good assets. She felt awful as she was neither beautiful nor did she have any assets. And the fact that Scorpius thought she was a boy made her feel worse.

"Do you want to go flying in the evening?" asked Albus, checking his timetable for the day.

Rose shook her head, "I have two essays due in transfiguration-"

"-which have to be given in next week. Scorpius convince her-Scorpius?"

Rose and Albus stared at their blonde friend who seemed to have become speechless, and was staring at something beyond Rose's head.

Rose turned around to see the thing that could divert Scorpius's attention from Quidditch related talks, and felt her stomach drop.

Scorpius was staring at Melissa Bright. Again.

The bloody gorgeous Ravenclaw everyone loved gawking at. Especially him.

The tall brunette with the most beautiful black hair, loveliest brown eyes, and mile long legs. The first girl Scorpius ever noticed.

The stupid bimbo, who was sitting with her gaggle of girls on the Ravenclaw table. She wasn't stupid, he always argued.

The pompous prissy who just threw Scorpius a dazzling smile.

The ice queen who made Scorpius wink back at her.

_Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. _

_One, two, three,… _  
She stared at Scorpius, who was still looking at her with longing and fascination.

What on earth was the wink for?

Albus looked at Rose, and she nodded. He picked up an abandoned Daily Prophet on the table and smacked Scorpius on the head with it.

"Ow!" the blonde yelped, rubbing his head.

"So would you like to say something?" asked Rose, trying to keep her voice calm, whereas she actually wanted to scream murder.

"Well?" Albus said, waiting for an explanation.

"Well what?" asked Scorpius innocently.

"Care to explain what was with the winking? Is there something going on between the two of you?"

Scorpius sighed, "Okay. All right. You know I've been tutoring her for DADA ever since the term started, right?."

"Yeah."

"We became friends and now I think I've fallen in love with her."

_WHAT!?!_

Albus choked on his pumpkin juice, and started coughing violently.

Rose felt herself stop breathing as she saw the words roll off his tongue. She suddenly felt faint, and she had to grip the edge of the table to prevent herself from falling off the table. She could hear her blood pounding in her ears. She was getting a very strong urge to hit someone. She could try hitting James later, since he was always in trouble with her.

Albus looked bewildered, "Are you serious?" he squeaked.

Scorpius grinned nervously, running his hand through his hair, "I've never felt this way about any other girl. Melissa's gorgeous, funny, sweet, smart, and gorgeous-"

"You've already said gorgeous."

"I know. She is, isn't she?"

Rose wanted to cry. Her insides twisted and she felt a sharp pain in her heart. She could feel herself deflating. She wanted to put her head down on the table, close her eyes and never get up. This had to be her worst nightmare.

He said he loved her because she was gorgeous. Something that she wasn't and perhaps never could be.

Albus looked unsure, "Mate, maybe it's just a crush."

"It isn't," said Scorpius impatiently, "Look, I'm going to ask her out today. I reckon she feels the same way…"

Albus turned to look at Rose for help, who was trying her best to hide her tears and not throttle Scorpius till he came to his senses. She shook her head, and went back to her book, but everything in front of her seemed blurred.

"Rose," Albus pleaded.

"Yes," said Scorpius, crossing his arms, "Do you agree with what Albus has to say?."

Rose took a deep breath, thinking of the right words to use.

"Albus is right. You aren't in love Scorpius, its just infatuation." She said softly, trying to keep the anger out of her voice.

"No, my dear. It is much more than that. I know she's _the one_."

Rose felt as if she couldn't breathe anymore. Her eyes were burning. Was he really in love with her? But he had known her for only three months!

Albus shook his head. "But you hardly talk to her! How can you fall in love with someone you hardly know? Three months of DADA lessons aren't enough to know a person well."

Rose was rather amazed by the sensibility showed by Albus. Usually both were equally stupid and insensitive.

"Sometimes a glimpse is enough to fall in love. That way three months is a pretty long time."

Rose laughed, making Scorpius glare at her. This wasn't the Elizabethan times. This wasn't the world of Jane Austen.

"Scorpius you aren't being reasonable," she tried again.

"You aren't being reasonable!"

"You're just fifteen!"

_Hypocrite!,_ her mind shouted at her.

"So? You said your dad was eleven when he fell for your mum!"

They were attracting stares from adjoining tables. Some were looking on rather curiously, some gleefully. A Rose Weasley-Scorpius Malfoy argument was always worth listening to.

Rose and Scorpius were now on their feet, glaring furiously at each other and still arguing. Albus looked terrified. This row was slightly 'louder' than their regular ones. He hoped both would be alive by the end of it.

"Why can't you just accept what I just said and move on with your life?" said Scorpius irritated.

"Because you are being too unrealistic. There's no logic in what you're saying. Looking good is not a reason strong enough to love someone."

"There's a reason why I didn't want to tell you guys," said Scorpius angrily, "I knew you wouldn't understand me."

"There wasn't anything worth believing," said Rose scoffing. She could feel her temper surface; she was just a second away from blowing up.

"What would you know about falling in love? There's nothing too logical about it. So it's obvious you'll neither understand nor experience it," Scorpius spat.

Albus stared at him in shock, while Rose looked dumbstruck. Scorpius picked up his bag and stormed out of the Great Hall. There was pin-drop silence in the hall, all eyes on Rose.

Breathing heavily, Rose stormed off after him.

Albus followed with their bags, knowing very well that a showdown was on the way. He had to be there just in case curses started flying and someone had to be taken to the hospital wing.

Rose entered the entrance hall, fuming from head to toe. _How dare he_ accuse her of not knowing what love was? She had been in love with him for the past three years and yet he had the guts to tell her that she hadn't any-well, he'll see!

Her eyes looked for the blonde in the busy corridor. He wasn't too far away. He was standing against one of the windows, leaning against the wall and looking outside the window.

She walked towards him, and turned him towards her with a strength that could not be associated with the size of her frame.

"What?" growled Scorpius, his jaw clenched as he looked down at her. For a minute, she was blown away by just how amazing he looked. There was fire in his eyes, his muscles were tensed, his unkempt blonde hair fluttered ever so lightly with the wind and his face was flushed.

He looked perfect.

All Rose wanted to do pull him down by his tie and snog the daylights out of him. But then he wouldn't like it, would he, since he'd prefer Melissa Bright's bee-stung lips to her rather normal looking ones?

Like the waves of the ocean during storm, her anger rose violently in her. Her insides were on fire, a monster was roaring inside her, wanting to attack her prey and release its fury. She took a deep breath to try and stop the angry tears waiting to spill from her.

"I may like to see and know things logically," began Rose, her voice shaking, "but it doesn't mean that I don't know how to feel. I'm a girl-yes, Scorpius-_a girl_. And every girl knows how to feel. They are not insensitive, mean, stupid, and selfish like boys. I have felt more emotions by now than you could just think of feeling in your lifetime. Just because I don't show them, doesn't mean I can't feel them. There's a reason they say boys and girls are different. So don't you DARE tell me what I think or not think? DO-YOU-GET-THAT-MALFOY?" she shouted, poking his chest angrily, making him wince.

"All right Rose!" came James Potter's cheerful voice from the crowd milling around them, "That's the spirit girl! See I called you a girl."

Rose wheeled around in anger, "Do you want me to start on you now?!" she shrieked, advancing on him.

"Whoa! Easy there, darling," said James, backing a little. Provoking an already irate Rose Weasley was the stupidest thing one could do, "Wow, were those sparks coming out your hair-OH DAMN!"

James Potter took off, Rose hot on his heels.

Maybe she'll get some respite for the day.

* * *

Rose sighed as the peace of the area washed over her. It was a lush green hilly area towards the end of Hogsmeade. Cool breeze hit her face, and she sighed again. The weather was unusually warm for November. The view of village was splendid from up here. Having found a nice spot under a tree, she felt the peace relaxing her instantly as she lay on the grass with her eyes closed. She wondered how she had never been to this area of Hogsmeade before.

Oh wait, it was because Scorpius and Albus always dragged her off to Zonko's and Weasley's Wizard Wheezes every time they visited Hogsmeade. But today, both weren't here with her. Albus had a detention, which meant she had to go with Scorpius alone. But he seemed pretty mad at her, since they hadn't hung out ever since the fight. And it was also possible that he would be with Melissa on their first date as a couple.

It had been over a week since she talked to Scorpius. For the first time in their history of arguments and making up, neither of them was ready to relent first and apologize. Atmosphere was rather tense during their classes after the agrument, where Albus had to act as the buffer. He had threatened the both of them to start talking to each other, or else he'd complain to the headmistress about mental harassment he was receiving from the two of them. When both ended up jinxing him, he finally gave up.

_I'm sick and tired of acting as the buffer every time you two argue. Both of you need to grow up. Unless the two of you mend your ways and apologize to each other, I won't be talking to either of you. _

Scorpius started sitting on the Slytherin table instead of joining her on the Gryffindor table. Albus sat on the Hufflepuff table, where he sat with two of his good friends, Elora Longbottom and Lorcan Scamander, to avoid Rose and Scorpius. She too started avoiding them, preferring to not be in a place where Scorpius was present. She started sitting in front during classes. She started studying more by the lake, since she knew Scorpius and Melissa would be there in the library.

But it hurt. Library seemed lonelier without him. Breakfast, lunch, dinner wasn't the same without Scorpius around. Hell, her life wasn't the same without him around. She missed him.

Usually after any major argument, they refused to talk to each other for maybe a day or two. But it had been exactly eight days and two hours since they talked to each other or argued which was the same thing.

She didn't even know if he and Melissa were together yet. They must be, she reasoned, they're on pretty friendly terms anyway. And no girl in the world could turn him down.

While walking in the halls, she feared running into Scorpius and Melissa snogging in a corner. When she didn't spot them, she assumed they had found their private corner, making her feel even more miserable.

It had been the most awful week of her life.

She wanted to blame Scorpius for their tiff, but she knew she couldn't. She was to blame as well.

She had felt that she went a little too far with the issue of thinking-and-feeling-logically. On a regular day she would just have a comeback for his nasty things. But she was just too upset. She just wanted to shout at Scorpius to make herself feel a little better. But it didn't really work.

How was she to just accept the fact that he was in love with someone who wasn't her?

She dug her fingers in the ground, scooping some grass in her fists, trying to stop the tears which were threatening to spill out of her eyes.

She refused to cry about the whole issue, for she knew that if she let's a tear out, the rest wont hold themselves in, and they would never stop. She never thought there was anything in the world that could totally break her. But boy oh boy, she had to be proven wrong.

The pain of heartbreak was so bad that she wasn't sure if she could feel anything else now. It had numbed her. There was a heavy weight on her chest that she couldn't seem to lift, making breathing rather difficult for her. There was a dull ache in her heart that showed no signs of disappearing. Whoever had said love was a beautiful feeling was a complete idiot. It definitely didn't make her skip with joy and make her feel contented. It made her feel all the more selfish, impatient, depre-

"It's quite peaceful out here, isn't it?"

Rose willed herself to not say anything as she felt Scorpius sit next to her on the grass. She could pretend to be asleep. She tried her best to not sigh as his scent washed over her.

"Rose, stop pretending to be asleep. Get up now. Butterbeer is waiting for us at The Three Broomsticks. Not to mention the brand new sugar-quills at Hogsmeade."

No response.

"Do you want me to pick you up and carry you all the way to the Three Broomsticks?" came Scorpius's incredulous voice.

She wouldn't actually mind that.

"Fine. Suit yourself."

_What?! Oh-_

Scorpius locked his one arm under her knees and the other one on her lower back and then scooped her easily in his arms. Her eyes snapped open and she almost fainted.

Their noses were almost touching. She could feel his minty breath on her lips. Toothflossing Stringmints from Honeydukes, she figured. Something they had bought in excess in their previous visit to their village. She was dying to move her head forward by an inch so that she could feel his lips against hers. They looked rather soft, pink and absolutely delectable. She was feeling rather light-headed and dizzy, her stomach churning violently. Damn those hormones!

Her eyes locked with his, and BAM! It was as if electricity was passing between them. The air in her lungs seemed to escape, and the surroundings seemed to have vanished. She could only see him and sense his presence only. Her insides quivered as his eyes bore into hers; it was almost as if he could read the emotions running through her mind. She felt herself stop breathing as she looked into his eyes. They were beautiful. And he was looking at her, _very intensely_, making her blood boil, and skin heat up.

Merlin, she could get lost in those eyes of his!

"Put. Me. Down. Now," she said spitefully, feeling very uncomfortable. He was holding her so intimately against himself, she willed herself not to lean her head against his shoulder and finally melt in his rather strong arms. She had dreamt of him holding her like this. Right before they were step into their household for the first time as a married couple.

Something flashed in his eyes, and he immediately let go, making her fall on the ground on her backside.

"Ow," she moaned, rubbing the area that had come in immediate contact with the ground, "Why did you do that?" she asked indignantly.

Scorpius looked down at her with his arms crossed across his chest, "You asked me to let you go. And so I did," he said waspishly.

Rose glared at him. She stood up, brushing her clothes to get rid of any dirt or glass blade stuck on it.

"Before we go to the Three Broomsticks, I want to talk to you," said Scorpius, looking sharply at her.

"Well I don't want to go with you. Just leave me alone!" She had just turned her back at him, when she felt him grab her hand rather forcefully.

Before she knew she knew it, she was pushed against the tree and Scorpius stood in front of her, hands on either side of her head, making sure she couldn't escape.

"What are you doing?" she spluttered as she looked up at him. There were countless no. of times when she had fantasized about Scorpius pushing her against the walls of a deserted corridor and snogging her senseless. The current situation was similar to her fantasies. The only difference was that Scorpius didn't have a loved up gaze as he looked at her.

"I'm just trying to get you to talk to me!" he said, sounding exasperated, "You've been avoiding me for the past eight days, two hours and-" Scorpius looked at his watch, "-twelve minutes."

"Avoiding you?!" Rose said incredulously, "You were the one avoiding me!"

"Really? The day after we jinxed Al, I tried looking for you, but you were never around. Trying to catch you after class was the most difficult thing, since you always sat in front as compared to our regular seats at the back. If I'm not wrong, you were the one who took off early for Hogsmeade today. Why didn't you wait for me?"

Rose scrunched her face in mock thought, "Hmm..I don't know..Oh yeah! I can give you reasons. One; you haven't been talking to me. Two; I assumed that you were going with Melissa!"

"I haven't asked her yet. Feeling too nervous."

Rose let out a snort, despite how she felt about the situation, "You? _Nervous?_ That's a first!"

"I don't know. I seem to choke on my words whenever I'm around her."

Rose scoffed. Scorpius narrowed his eyes at her.

"Coming back to our conversation," he said, "It seems you were the one more eager to cut out all means of communication between the two of us. Why?"

Rose lowered her eyes to the ground.

"This has never happened before. Tell me if there is any problem. I want to know if you have a problem with me calling my feelings for her love like you had said or do you have a problem with the girl I fancy? Or is there something else?"

"All of them!" she blurted, and then covered her mouth instantly. She wasn't supposed to say that! Blame the lapse on the bloody cologne!

"Why?" asked Scorpius frowning, "You can tell me anything, Rose. So what is it that made you so mad at me?"

_Oh damn! Oh damn! The moment of truth has finally arrived. I am screwed. Can't the earth crack up and eat me alive? _  
She so wasn't expecting this moment to come up so soon. She tried her very best to come up with another excuse. Why wasn't her brain working? Where had all her mother's intelligence gone?

"Well," she started slowly, giving her brain time to think. His insides were churning violently. Her breaths were becoming shorter and louder.

"Yes?" snapped Scorpius impatiently.

"You won't understand it."

"There's nothing I can't understand. Try me."

"All right. It's only because you asked for it," said Rose, biting her lower lip.

_DOOMED! DOOMED! DOOMED! _

I love you, Al. You are welcome to take all my possessions after I die, except maybe my underwear.

"Rose!" said Scorpius exasperated.

"You said you loved Melissa because she was gorgeous. And I'm not gorgeous."

"Eh?"

"I told you, you won't get it! So just forget it!" Rose cried, looking for a way to escape. She was trapped between the tree and Scorpius and Merlin was he standing close or what? She could count his pale eyelashes. One, two, three…..

"Rose, please repeat it. This time, enunciate and make sense," said Scorpius pleaded.

Rose took a deep breath. This was it.

_Unless…_

She smiled inwardly. She finally got what she had to say. God bless her mum's brain.

"Can we sit down first?"

They both sat down side by side. Scorpius looked at her expectantly.

"Well you had said that you loved Melissa because she was good-looking, right?"

"Uh..yeah. That's how the attraction started."

"I was mad because you were acting pretty shallow. A person cannot be loved just because they are good-looking. You can fancy them, but you cannot say its love."

"Okay. Maybe I had exaggerated a bit about the liking part. I have a HUGE crush on her. Anything else you have a problem with?"

"Even though it's true that good-looks cannot make you fall in love, but then, it is important right? You made me realize that I don't stand a chance of being loved by anyone. I mean I get good grades, I play decent Quidditch, but I'm not good-looking at all! No one would ever want to date me. "

Even though, she was just kidding about her reasons, the thought scared her. What if no one thought she's decent-looking, forget good? No one would want to date her, forget marrying her. She'll die an old spinster!

Scorpius looked at her incredulously, "You're fucking mental, you know that!"

Rose glared at him, "Language!" she snapped.

"Fine. You're _bloody_ mental! What makes you think no guy would ever fancy you?"

"To begin with, most of the guys think I'm a boy, an impression put forward, especially by you," said Rose, turning red as she said so. She always felt rather odd whenever she hung out with Lily, Roxanne, and Dominique as she grew older. They seemed to become more graceful and ladylike, whereas she enjoyed bashing up guys and wrestling with them, "I'm clumsy. I have a wonderful temper that intimidates everyone. And also the fact that I'm not good-looking-"

"If you'll say that you are not good-looking one more time, I'll seriously hex you all the way to India."

"OOH," said Rose sarcastically, "I've always wanted to go to see the Taj Mahal!"

"What's that?"

"Never mind."

"Look. Don't think I'm lying. Because I'm not," said Scorpius, taking her hand gently in his. Rose started at his touch and tried not to sigh; his touch seemed _perfect_ . "You are the most gorgeous girl in Hogwarts right now."

Rose felt a stab at her heart. This made her feel worse. She _hated _sympathy.

"Scorpius," she began tiredly, "You don't nee-"

"I'm not trying to make you feel better! You are the most beautiful girl I've ever known. It is the bloody truth! You are incredibly funny, so kind, generous except when it comes to copying homework, caring, loyal, the best friend anyone could ever have. Rose, I can go and on about how incredible you are. Haven't you ever looked at yourself in the mirror?"

"Yes. Everyday," said Rose sighing, "And I cringe every time I look at myself in the mirror."

"And you really don't think you look decent?" asked Scorpius, sighing heavily.

"NO! Not even without the metal in my mouth"

"I'm afraid I'll have to take you to Mungos, darling! There's something wrong with your eyes and your brain. What makes you think that you're not beautiful? And don't say it's because of what other people say." He added sternly.

"Maybe it's the fact that no-one's noticed me," said Rose in a small voice, wanting to drown herself, "Really Scorpius, if you think I'm beautiful, why hasn't any guy ever noticed me till now? Last year, remember Valentines Day? All the girls in our year got a rose and a singing valentine from a secret admirer. Everyone but me!"

"Hey!" exclaimed Scorpius, "Al and I got you flowers! Doesn't that count for anything?"

"As much as I think the gesture's sweet, it's actually more pathetic!" spat Rose, "Flowers due to sympathy from best friends! Melissa made fun of me for the whole week."

"She did?" asked Scorpius frowning.

"Have you been blind Scorpius?! The woman started the Lets-Taunt-Rose-Weasley-About-Her-Freckles movement! That bi-witch thinks every girl in Hogwarts is inferior to her. How can you fancy her? The idea of you fancying her is difficult to fathom. That's another reason why I have a problem with you liking her. You deserve so much better than that twat!"

Scorpius let out a defeated hiss.

"All right. Maybe she's a cow. She is self-indulgent. She is spoilt. But that's the side that you've seen. I got to know a fantastic girl during those DADA tutoring lessons, someone really incredible. Maybe if you get to know her better, you-"

"I'd rather date Ryan Smith."

"-might realize that she's actually not that bad," finished Scorpius, annoyed by her stubbornness to not socialize with Melissa, "Coming back to the topic of you-" Rose let out a small groan "-You needn't think that a guy won't fancy you because you aren't good enough. I know there would be loads of guys who'll be after you, but would shy away from revealing their true feelings for they'll know that you deserve so much better than them. You deserve the best," said Scorpius with a small smile.

"Really?" asked Rose uncertainly.

Scorpius looked at her, amazed.

"OF COURSE! Finding a girl like you is next to impossible! That's why you deserve the BEST, though you'll have a tough time choosing the right guy, since there would be too many guys after you, since you are so fucking beautiful."

Rose looked at ground as she blushed harder. Why was it so easy for Scorpius to win over her?

"You mean to say I can get any guy I want?" she asked in a timid voice, not wanting to give anything away.

"Anyone. One day, you'll find a guy who would love you more than life itself, someone who'd want to marry you, have kids with you, and spend the rest of his life with you."

"Really?" asked Rose hopefully.

Scorpius nodded and then smirked, "Oh yes! Since he would be blind and all!"

She swatted him on the arm, earning a good-natured chuckle from him.

"Come on let's go. I'm hungry."

"As Always!" he chuckled getting up as well.

"You can laugh as much as you want, Mr. Hopeless Romantic," teased Rose, as they walked towards the village, "Do you honestly believe in love at first sight? I didn't know you were such a romantic at heart!"

Scorpius's neck turned red, "Would you mind not mentioning that to anyone? I don't want to ruin my tough boy image," Said Scorpius, flexing his muscles, and flashing a cheeky grin.

Rose laughed as he wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer. The rest of the Hogwarts students eyed the pair suspiciously as the joyful duo passed them. But the pair couldn't care less. They were back together again.

Soon they reached the Three Broomsticks, which was teeming with Hogwarts students. She looked through the glass window to see if they had space inside. She immediately spotted two seats next to the bar.

"Hey Scorp! I think I saw two-Scorpius?!"

Scorpius didn't seem too bothered about the seats since his attention was somewhere else. Melissa Bright stood alone, a few meters away from them, carrying what seemed like tonnes of Honeydukes sweets and Scorpius was yet again looking at her with longing.

Rose felt the familiar burning sensation in her. She hit him on his shoulder. His face flushed with embarrassment as he looked back at her.

"So let-lets go inside," he said uncomfortably, running a hand through his hair, "Don't worry. If you don't want me to get together with her, I won't," he added, on seeing her stern expression.

Rose sighed. Scorpius really wanted to be with Melissa. Even though she was feeling bad about Scorpius fancying other girl, she felt worse about forcing Scorpius to stay away from the girl he fancied. If he really wanted to be with Melissa, who was she to stop him?

"You really like her, don't you?" she asked, finally resigning.

"Yeah," sighed Scorpius, with a defeated shrug.

"Go. I think she'll appreciate some company."

"Why should I give her company?," said Scorpius, looking surprised, "I'd rather be with you."

_Really? Why do I find that hard to believe?_

She took out her wand and pointed at the bags in Melissa's arms.

"What are you doing?" Scorpius hissed, eyes wide open.

"Diffindo," She muttered. The spell found its mark. The paper bags containing the sweets tore from the bottom, making all the sweets fall to the ground. "Help her pick her stuff, will you?"

Scorpius looked at her, dumbfounded. "You want me to go and help her?" he asked slowly, in disbelief.

Rose shot him a glare, "Yes! Before any other guy does." She nodded her head at Melissa again. "Go!"

Scorpius's eyes lit, his face brightened. He looked more handsome than ever.

"But you'll be alone. I don't want to leave you alone," said Scorpius hesitantly, his smile fading a little.

"I'll be fine. James is sitting inside. I'll see you later, okay?" she faked a smile trying to make him believe that she would be just fine.

Scorpius looked happier than he had been when he had pranked Ryan Smith. He threw her a dazzling smile.

"Rose! You are the best! I love you!"

She hadn't digested his last words yet when he placed a kiss on her cheek and immediately left to help Melissa. Her cheek burned at the place where his lips had come in contact with her skin. That was the first time any guy who wasn't related to her, had kissed her.

A bittersweet smile broke on her face as she saw Melissa laughing as Scorpius said something to her. He looked rather pleased with himself as Melissa placed her palm on his forearm as she talked to him.

He looked _so happy_. And it pained her to know it was because of someone who wasn't her. She really didn't know if she should be happy or sad.

They looked so perfect together. Both were unbelievably gorgeous, flawless, tall and were walking with a grace she could never master. She was sure she and Scorpius could never look that beautiful together.

_But he thinks you're beautiful._

Who was she kidding? He was just trying to make her feel better. Scorpius was good at making up things to make her feel better.

She turned her back at The Three Broomsticks and headed back to the castle.

Before she knew it, she was already in her empty dorm sitting on her bed, staring blankly at the engraving she had made on her headboard of her bed in her first year.

_Rose+ Scorpius_

She lightly traced the marking, feeling tears stinging her eyes.

She had to get over him. Nothing would ever happen between them. She knew she was giving up rather early. It was just fourth year. But then she had loved him for over three years. She didn't want to wait any longer. The hurt she felt on seeing Scorpius with Melissa crippled her. And she had a feeling if waited for him any longer, it might actually kill her.

She sighed heavily as she lay down on her bed, not allowing her tears to fall. It was over. She and Scorpius were never meant to be. Scorpius already knew that. She just had to deal with it.

_I love you._

The words in his happy voice, resonated in her head.

"I love you too," she whispered wistfully, wrapping her arms around herself.

After months of worrying if Scorpius would notice her, she finally had her answer.

She could finally get some sleep tonight.

**

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**

AN:-

**Well…so what do you think?? If not asleep, drop a review to let me know!**


	2. September, 2021

**I recently saw the fifth Half-Blood Prince trailer! Is it just me or is Tom Felton looking extra hot in this one!?!? He looks so flawless….*sigh* ;-)**

**This one-shot is almost pointless. But it is from Scorpius's POV. And I love writing him.**

**So Enjoy! :-P**

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**Disclaimer: Everything recognizable belongs to JKR. No copyright infringement intended.**

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**2. September 2021**

"Dad, hurry up!!" said Scorpius Malfoy irritably to his father, who was driving him to King's Cross.

"That's the third time you said it in under a minute. We have over forty five minutes, Scorpius. It won't take more than ten minutes from here. Calm down. What is the big hurry?" said his father, Draco Malfoy, who was busy looking ahead for traffic.

"Ever since you learnt driving, I have been having nightmares of me missing the train because you were the one driving the car. So hurry up!! Why are you driving so slowly anyway? The cycle guy just overtook us."

"I'm driving slowly to avoid any accident."

"The distance between us and the car in front of ours is over five hundred meters. There is no way you can bang into it."

"The whole point!"

Astoria Malfoy sighed in the front seat as she heard the father-son duo bicker.

"Would you two just stop it?" she said exasperatedly, turning to look at her husband and her son, "Draco, you'll survive if you drive a little faster. And Scorpius, you should appreciate the fact that your father listened to you and learnt driving."

Scorpius snorted, "He only started taking driving lessons when I told him that Rose's father drives."

"Hey!" said Draco indignantly, looking at Scorpius's reflection in the rear-view mirror, "I started learning driving only because you asked me to! Weasel doesn't have to do anything with it!"

"Riiiiigghht!"

"Eyes on the road, Draco. EYES ON THE ROAD!"

"Sorry."

"Honestly dad! How on earth did pass the driving test? Did you hex the examiner or something?"

They finally reached King's Cross with just about twenty minutes to spare. Draco halted the car suddenly, making Scorpius bump his head against the car roof.

"I'll get the parking ticket," said Astoria, getting out of the car.

"Bloody hell, dad!" exclaimed Scorpius, rubbing his head as he got out of the car, "Next year onwards, it'll be me in the driver's seat."

"You are underage," said Draco firmly, as he took out Scorpius's trunk from the car.

"I'll be turning sixteen in two and a half months. Minimum age limit is sixteen."

"Wow," said Draco softly, raising his eyebrows in surprise as he looked at Scorpius.

"What?!"

"You're about to turn sixteen. It seems like it was just yesterday that you were born and few hours later, you boarded the Hogwarts Express. It is so hard to believe how fast time flies by."

Scorpius would have been embarrassed at this (unexpected) display of fatherly affection towards him. But he knew better.

"Don't try and change the topic! Admit it! Your driving is abysmal."

"It isn't! I just need practice! Next summer, we'll race. What do you say?" said Draco, smirking as he stuck out his hand.

"Deal!" said Scorpius, shaking his hand and having an identical smirk on his face.

Astoria joined them with a luggage trolley, heaving Scorpius's trunk onto it.

They went through the barrier cautiously to enter Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

Dense smoke from Hogwarts Express welcomed them as soon they stepped onto the familiar platform which was teeming with families saying goodbye to their kids.

As they moved forward, Scorpius looked out for a sea of red and black. His heart soared the moment he spotted blazing red, but felt disappointed when he saw that it was actually Molly and Lucy Weasley, Rose's uncle Percy's daughters.

He hadn't met his best friends the whole summer since he was out holidaying in Australia with his parents. The trip was fun all right. Sun, sand, clear water and beautiful bikini-clad women to ogle at; it was a paradise for any fifteen year old male. The trip became a lot more fun for a while when his mum caught his father applying sun-block on the back of a topless woman who needed help in applying it. The shouting match they had in their room had been worth overhearing from his room which was connected to theirs. Although, after a few minutes, his father had shouted that he wanted to see his mother go topless, giving Scorpius the cue to chop off his ears for the rest of the day.

But he hadn't seen either of his best friends for two months, and that was a pretty long time for him, for he stayed at Al's for a week every summer break. Rose used to visit them, but never stayed, mainly because Rose's paranoid father, Ronald Weasley wasn't too keen on letting his daughter sleep under a roof which had Scorpius as well.

He and Albus were in touch over the summer. Surprisingly, Rose, the talker of the trio, didn't write him a _single_ letter at all!

Scorpius sighed and turned to his parents who were busy talking to Blaise and Pansy Zabini.

"I'll just keep my luggage on the train and come," he said.

After finding an empty compartment, he lugged his trunk onto the luggage carrier on the top, and with his wand, he marked '_occupied'_ in big blazing letters on the glass door. As he was passing the other compartments, he saw Melissa Bright snogging Ryan Smith rather enthusiastically in one of them. Clenching his fists, he moved forward.

Rose was right about her. She was a whore who snogged three guys at a time. He was glad that she had turned him down, for he didn't suffer the same fate as rest of the guys who had dated her. Anyway, she looked like she was eating Smith's face. How gross could someone be? It's not like that he cared about Melissa's kissing abilities. He could not believe that at one time, he did care about her. And her kissing abilities.

The moment he stepped off the train, he heard his name being called out.

"Oi Scorpius!"

His heart soared the moment he saw the Potters standing a few meters away from him. He grinned at Albus Potter, who grinned back at him. After clapping each other on the back, Scorpius turned to Albus's parents.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Potter," he said politely to Albus's parents. Harry smiled at him and nodded.

"Hello dear," said Ginny Potter pleasantly, "You seemed to have grown a few more inches over the vacations. So how-"

"Nice tan, Malfoy!" interrupted James Potter smirking, "Seems like you had a lot of fun in Australia, since you didn't write to Allie here!"

"I did write to him but not too frequently," drawled Scorpius. He felt eyes piercing into the side of his face, "Hey Lily. So how were your holidays?"

The youngest Potter, who had been staring rather obviously at him, blushed a furious red, "They were rather bombastic," she squeaked and turned redder if possible.

"Err…okay?" said Scorpius, scratching his head.

James sniggered, while Albus rolled his eyes.

"I think I just spotted Fred, so see you squirts later!" exclaimed James and he took off.

"So have you seen Rose?" asked Scorpius, looking around.

"She hasn't arrived yet? But she's the one who arrives the earliest!" asked Albus, frowning, "Hey, your parents are calling you."

Scorpius turned to look at his parents, who were beckoning him. He groaned when he saw Portia Zabini standing next to his parents. His parents (rather, his father) wanted him to fancy their family friend's pompous daughter, who was a pureblood Slytherin like him. Draco didn't believe in blood discrimination anymore but that didn't stop him from pushing his son to go after a girl of his choice rather than Rose Weasley.

"Good luck!", came Albus's amused voice.

With a heavy heart he walked towards his parents, very much aware of Portia's black eyes boring into his face. There had been numerous moments the past three years when she had made her affections for him rather public, making him want to shoot himself the second she said, 'Hello Scorpius Malfoy!' in her nasal voice.

"Yes father?" said Scorpius tiredly.

"Scorpius. This is Portia," drawled Draco.

"She's in my year, in my house, and has been so for the past four years. So yes I think I know her."

"But Portia here tells me that at school, you pretend as if you don't know her! Aren't you two good friends? You've known each other since you were kids!"

"If we were friends, I believe I would have been dead by now. She has a tendency to make me want to tear off my arm and throw it on her face just to make her stop talking."

Portia laughed, making Scorpius cringe. Her laugh was the only thing that was more annoying than her voice.

"Honestly Scorpius!" she started in her nasal voice, "You know how to crack me up"

"Wish I could crack open that empty skull of yours, stuff some brains in that empty space and make you understand that I am _not interested_ in you."

"Haha Malfoy! Truly original if I may say," came a familiarly sarcastic voice from behind him, that made his insides jump in joy. Oh how much he had longed to hear that voice over the summer!

He immediately turned around and enveloped the person in a tight embrace.

"Okay," Rose Weasley gasped in his arms, patting his back as she struggled to get out of his arms, "All right. I missed you too. Hello Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy!" she added rather weakly, "Hey Zabini."

Portia 'hmphed' and left the Malfoys and Rose alone. Draco looked as if his worst nightmare was coming true as he watched his son's arms wrapped around a Weasley so intimately, while Astoria hid a smile behind her hand.

"Is she gone?" Scorpius whispered in Rose's ear.

"Yes. And leave me before I knee you."

Scorpius pulled back from their embrace and grinned down at his second best friend. She was dressed in a denim knee length skirt with a full sleeved black top and sneakers. It surprised him since he was used to seeing her in the school uniform on the first of September. A small smile on her face gave him a glimpse of a set of straight teeth with no metal on them.

"What happened to your uniform?" he asked curiously, "And hey! Your braces are off!"

"Thank Merlin they're gone. I was sick of my mouth bleeding for a reason other than a bludger. Mum finally convinced Dad to let me dress something other than the uniform, for he thought that if I do dress up in something other than the uniform, a guy might check me out," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Don't worry. It won't happen anyway."

Suddenly, Rose's expression darkened and before he knew it, she smacked him hard on his arm.

"Ow!" he yelped, "What was that for? You know I was kidding!"

"Why weren't you replying to my letters?" she spat.

"What letters? I didn't get any letters from you," said a surprised Scorpius.

"What do you mean by you didn't get any letters at all? I had sent you three of them, all in July. Ophelia always returned empty handed."

"I'm telling you I didn't get any letters!"

"Uh well," interrupted Draco, looking sheepish, "I received the letters on his behalf. I collected them and then always forgot-"

"Draco!!!" shrieked Astoria, making her husband flinch, "WHY-why would you do that??"

"It was an honest mistake!" said Draco in defense, "I collected them and eventually forgot. But I still have them with me at the manor."

Astoria glared at him, feeling disgusted.

Rose sighed in exasperation as she looked at Scorpius, "So you technically didn't get my letters. But then, if you didn't get any letters from me, didn't you have the courtesy to send me a letter instead, just letting me know that you are alive and healthy? You really had me worried!"

Scorpius started feeling sheepish. He had been worried when he wasn't receiving any mails from Rose. But then he presumed that she was mad at him for something he couldn't recall. She was always mad at him for something. He did spend a major chunk of his nighttime trying to recall the last moments with Rose, trying to see if he cheesed her off at one point or the other. But the obvious thought of sending her a letter instead never crossed his mind.

"Well, that didn't really cross my mind," he said, turning pink.

"_Obviously_," said Rose in perfect imitation of his drawl, "But you never even mentioned me in Al's letters. Didn't you miss me over the vacations AT ALL?"

"Uh..sorry?" he said hopefully, smiling a little.

Rose glared at him, "You need to mean it, Scorpius!"

"So Rose," began Astoria, "You're a prefect now, right?"

Rose's expression brightened, "Oh yes! Mum and Dad were really pleased. Dad was a lot more pleased to know that Scorpius didn't get his badge and started ranting about how Weasleys are better than Malfoys. For heaven's sake, even Al didn't get the prefect's badge!" she rolled her eyes.

Draco's eyes flashed dangerously towards Ron Weasley who wasn't too far away from them and was talking to Harry Potter, a gesture not missed by Rose.

"Oh come on Mr. Malfoy! We all know why the git here didn't get his badge," she said looking at Scorpius pointedly, "It was mainly because he and Al were busy trying to be the school pranksters, and lost miserably to James and Fred. Also, Scorpius is nothing but a big, stupid jerk-"

Draco coughed.

"I'm not at all sorry for referring to your son as a jerk. He is a big idiot who doesn't care about a person who he supposedly calls his best friend-"

"I do care," interrupted Scorpius, glaring at her.

"He is very good at breaking promises. He had promised his best friend that he'd meet her in Diagon Alley on twenty third of Aug-"

"I hadn't returned from Australia then! You can't hold that against me!" said Scorpius indignantly.

"So you shouldn't have promised if you knew that you would be out holidaying the whole break! Mr. Malfoy, if you had a friend who made promises he knew he couldn't keep, wouldn't you call him an arse?"

"I never tried actually." started Draco looking unsure as he looked at his wife.

"ROSIE!" came Ron Weasley's voice over the crowd.

"Shoot!" exclaimed Rose, "I'll need to take leave now. So see you during winter break, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy!"

Throwing Scorpius a dirty look, she sauntered off.

"Such a lovely sweet-tempered girl," said Scorpius, looking at his parents, "Isn't she?"

"Maybe she's having a rather violent mood-swing", said Draco knowledgably.

"Really?" asked Scorpius uncertainly as he looked at Rose being engulfed by her father's arms.

"Oh yes! Women have it all the time. You should see your mum", said Draco chuckling, as he patted his son's back, "She's the epitome of-" he however closed his mouth immediately as Astoria exhaled loudly and gave her husband a death glare.

Draco looked at his son, grimacing, "Have fun at school. I'll send you letters from my grave."

* * *

"SNAP!" exclaimed Albus triumphantly, as Scorpius's tower of Exploding Snap cards exploded, "You suck at this, Malfoy! So why even play?"

"Because you absolutely suck at chess," drawled Scorpius, as he leant back in his seat and rubbed his singeing eyebrows, "But you continue playing it. So I think me losing in this one might make you feel better." He yawned widely.

"Didn't you sleep well last night?" asked Albus frowning, "cause that's the millionth time you've yawned in an hour."

"I do-don't kn-n-n-know," yawned Scorpius again, "Maybe it's the whole time adjustment thing. It took me a week to adjust to sleeping at night in Australia be-be-because of the time difference. Maybe I'll feel better if I-I g-ge-get some sleep now."

He looked pointedly at Rose, who was sitting opposite him and had her nose in a revised edition of _Hogwarts: A History_. She had her feet propped up on his berth, which disabled him from lying on his berth.

"Rose," he began tiredly, "Would you please let me lie down?"

She didn't respond. Instead she pulled the book closer to her, hiding her face more effectively.

"Rose, move your feet."

No response.

"Rose?!"

No response.

"ROSE NYMPHADORA WEASLEY! JUST MOVE YOUR DAMN FEET OFF MY SEAT!!!" he shouted, hoping to rile her up by using her full name and startle her into a response. She had practically ignored him till now, sitting as still as a statue and responding to Albus only. He was now losing patience with her.

She didn't even wince.

"Fine! Then I'll do the honours of moving your filthy legs off my seat," scoffed Scorpius.

He grabbed her lower calf of her right leg, and suddenly wished he hadn't. They felt rather soft and silky under his touch.

What the-?

He looked at her leg closely. The ivory skin looked like it wanted to be touched and caressed. It looked supple and velvety, befuddling him.

Since when did Rose start waxing or shaving her legs?

And did she always have such shapely legs? Wasn't she always skinny and lanky?

He glimpsed at Rose, whose nose was still buried in the book. He then looked at Albus who was looking back at him with raised eyebrows. He immediately let go of Rose's leg, flushing pink. He had held her leg a second too long.

"O-okay," Scorpius stuttered, "Maybe I don't need to remove your legs to lie down."

Just then the door opened and a handsome, tall, raven-haired teenager entered their compartment.

"Hey Timothy," said Albus, nodding at him.

Timothy grinned, "Albus. Scorpius. Good holiday?"

"Fantastic!" grinned Scorpius, "Went to Australia. Did a lot of snorkeling, sailing, sunbathing and of course, saw a lot of topless chicks!"

"I had the usual one. All cousins meeting at the Burrow and trying to outdo each other," said Albus in a bored voice. Suddenly his expression brightened, "You came here to talk about the team? I'm the Slytherin Captain this year!" he said excitedly.

"Whoa. Cool it there, Captain!" chuckled Timothy, "I actually came here to talk to Rose."

Scorpius narrowed his eyes. Why on earth would Timothy Zabini, a Slytherin sixth year, want to talk to Rose Weasley, a Gryffindor fifth year? They had never talked to each other ever before!

"Yeah?" came Rose's soft voice, pulling Scorpius out of his thoughts.

"Hey!" said Timothy, smiling at Rose in a way that made Scorpius's insides squirm very uncomfortably, "Mitchell's called for a meeting."

"But we just had a meeting!!" said Rose, bewildered.

"Dunno. He just asked me to round up all the prefects to meet him in the prefect's carriage. You are the last one."

"All right. I'll be there. You go ahead." said Rose, sighing as she closed the huge volume in her hands.

"It's all right. I can wait."

Scorpius stared at Timothy. Did he just say that he'll _wait_ for her? He barely knew her! Well, he definitely knew her from Quidditch, since he was the beater on the Slytherin team. But other than that, he didn't know her at all!

What on earth was going on?!

Something shone in his eyes, blinding him for second.

Light from the window had reflected off the prefect badge which Rose was pinning to her chest.

Right above her rounded chest.

_Nice apples._

Scorpius smacked himself hard on the head as soon as that thought came to his mind, turning everyone's attention towards him.

He had been staring at Rose's breasts. He had been staring at his best friend's breasts. He had been staring at his almost-like-a-sister friend's breasts.

Australia had done the impossible. Dirty his already sick mind.

"Scorpius, are you okay?" asked Albus worriedly

"I don't think so," said Scorpius weakly, as he sank back in his seat.

"What's the matter?"

"Maybe he's missing the Australian air," said Rose, scoffing as she got up, "The sand, the water, the topless ladies-"

"Would you knock it off?!" said Albus, annoyed, "It was his dad's fault-"

"NO!" shouted Rose, as she walked towards the door, "It's his fault as well! Since he was so good at ignoring me over the vacations-"

"I did not igno-" started Scorpius heatedly.

"He deserves to feel at least a bit of the frustration I had felt at being ignored for a whole two-ARGGGGGHH!"

On her way out, she tripped on Albus's feet, making her lose her balance and fall on Timothy, who did catch her, albeit in a rather awkward way.

Scorpius felt his blood boiling as he saw Timothy's hands resting on what he presumed was Rose's curvy backside.

Wait, did he just think she had a nice curve for an arse?

Scorpius groaned inwardly. What was the matter with him?

His eyes darted back to Timothy who thankfully had removed his hands from Rose's arse. He had a hint of a faint blush on his cheeks while Rose was at her blushing best.

"Sorry," she squeaked, looking at the floor as her ears practically glowed red.

"Hey, it's all right," he said in a soft voice that unnerved Scorpius to no end, "That actually felt nice. I won't mind catching you again."

Scorpius clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging into his palm as the bile rose to his throat. Was that freak-of-nature _hitting_ on her?

Before he could say anything, Albus interrupted warningly, "You dare ask her out, Zabini, you'll be ignored for team selections this year!"

Rose shot daggers at Albus, making him wink back at her playfully.

"Come on," said Timothy, tapping her on her shoulder, "We better leave."

As soon as they left, a tense silence perpetrated in the compartment. Scorpius was confused by the myriad thoughts running through his mind.

_Was Timothy hitting on Rose? Did Rose like his attention? Did Rose fancy him? Is that why she looked angry when Al warned him? They are not going to end up together! What do they have in common other than Quidditch? Wait, both are prefects, academically brilliant, good-looking-_

"Al?" called out Scorpius, slightly alarmed.

"Hmm?" replied Albus, who was now reading _Quidditch Illustrated_.

"Did something happen to Rose over the holidays? She looks different."

"So even you think she's put on weight? She had merely shrugged when I told her so. Which was pretty shocking because Lily started bawling when James had told her she needs to lose some of her baby fat…hehehe..it was funny actually…"

Scorpius pondered over what Albus had said. She did look a lot _curvier_ than the last time he'd seen her. Or maybe it was just her clothes.

"What happened to her wardrobe? Since when did she start wearing skirts which isn't a part of the school uniform?

"Victoire had taken her shopping during summer, insisting she needed a wardrobe makeover. At first, Rose absolutely despised them. But over summer, she grew accustomed to them. At least her clothes are more decent than the ones Lily had bought. It nearly gave Dad a coronary," said Albus chuckling, as he turned to the next page of the magazine.

"Don't you think her new clothes are slightly tight for her?"

"What do you mean?" asked Albus, looking up from his magazine and frowning.

"I meant that her clothes are really sticking to her figure. Didn't you notice her top hugging her breasts like that?" blurted Scorpius, before realizing what he had really said. That certainly hadn't come out right.

"Excuse me?!" Spluttered Albus, raising his eyebrows at him, "Did you just say you were-?"

"No!" Scorpius yelped, flushing pink. His mouth was good at getting him in serious trouble, "She's always been bloody gorgeous. And now she's started wearing these clothes that can attract easily guy's attention. Then they'll start drooling over her and start hitting on her and fancy her and ask her out and why are you laughing?" he added indignantly, when Albus burst out laughing.

"Are you referring to Timothy here?" asked the raven-haired boy knowingly, "For then only would your theory make sense!"

"In a way. But I-what did you just say? Timothy fancies her??" asked Scorpius disbelievingly, his mouth open in shock.

_Timothy? Zabini? TIMOTHY ZABINI? When? What? HOW? WHY?_

Albus stopped smirking and turned pink, "Damn! I wasn't supposed to let you know!"

"What do you mean by 'you weren't supposed to let me know'? Do you know something that I don't?" growled Scorpius dangerously, his pupils becoming slits.

Albus ran a hand through his hair, clearly looking disconcerted, "The previous term, Zabini had told me that he _sort of_ fancied Rose."

"Sort of? What do you mean by 'sort of'?" Scorpius spat, his nostrils flaring, "Either he fancies her or he doesn't!"

"Okay fine. He did say he fancied her, and he planned on asking her out this term-"

"HE WHAT?" Scorpius roared, making Albus flinch. The declaration was like a bleeding punch in the gut, which knocked the wind out of him. He could only see red and Zabini's nose, "HOW DARE HE- Oh FUCK! Mitchell didn't call them for a meeting! He's going to ask Rose out! I'm going to find them now. That little tosser-"

He got up immediately and walked towards the door but Albus grabbed the back of his sweatshirt.

"What are you doing?!" exclaimed Scorpius angrily as he struggled in Albus's grip, "LET-ME-GO so that I can SQUASH that prick to bloody pulp! LEAVE ME!"

"I will if you answer my question truthfully," said Albus in a serious tone, catching Scorpius's attention.

Scorpius stopped struggling against Albus and sighed, "All right!" Scorpius turned around to look at his best friend questioningly.

"Do you fancy Rose?" asked Albus seriously, crossing his arms.

"Come again?" asked Scorpius, baffled. What was with the world today? First Rose, then Zabini, and now Albus as well?

"Do-you-fancy-Rose?"

"Why-how-what gave you that idea?" stuttered Scorpius, trying to ignore the vehement flip-flop in his stomach. Fancy Rose? That's _RIDICULOUS!_

"Well, to begin with you think she's wearing clothes that can easily attract a guy's attention. She has definitely attracted your attention. Just a few minutes ago, I saw you drooling over her legs-" Scorpius blushed furiously "-And just look at you now! You were just a second away from beating Zabini to death! This is the reason why Zabini told me to not tell you. For he thinks you fancied Rose as well! Don't even get me started on the way you look at Rose! It's like she's the most precious thing to you in the world! And you ask me why I thought you fancied Rose!"

"HEY!" shouted Scorpius indignantly, "I DON'T FANCY ROSE! WHY ON EARTH SHOULD I FANCY HER? SHE IS LIKE A SISTER TO ME, YOU GOT THAT?! A SISTER!"

"Couldn't you have shouted that any louder? I don't think everyone on the train heard that!", came Rose's annoyed voice from the doorway, making both the boys turn to her.

She was looking at Scorpius with an expression he couldn't put a finger on. It looked like a cross between disgust and annoyance. She shook her head and went back to her seat, opening her book again, and burying her nose again in it.

"Did Mitchell really call for a meeting?" asked Albus immediately.

Scorpius felt his heart hammering wildly.

_Please say yes. Please say yes. _

Rose looked over her book at Albus. "Yeah. It was to letting us know about the patrolling schedules. He had forgotten to talk about it in the earlier meeting."

"And who are you patrolling with? Joseph Finnigan?"

"Sarah doesn't want the prefects from same house doing the patrolling together. I'm with Lysander."

A wave of relief washed over Scorpius as soon as he heard the last word. Grinning widely, he sat down, feeling absolutely relaxed and content. Maybe Zabini had lost his nerve at the last second.

"And by the way, Timothy asked me out."

_WHY THAT WANKER!!_

"What did you say?" asked Scorpius immediately, staring at her face for a give away. But she pretended she couldn't hear or see him.

"He is really..nice," said Rose softly, as she blushed again, "And is it true that the flowers on Valentine's day were really from him?" she looked at Albus hopefully.

"IS IT?" asked Scorpius, gaping at Albus in shock, "I thought you'd said that you got those flowers from Hagrid's!"

Albus laughed, "We all know that Hagrid grows only animated plants. However those flowers were available just right outside Forbidden Forest. And yes, Timothy did give them to me to give it you in my name! I told him to give it under a pseudo name, but he refused since he wanted to know if you really liked them."

Rose's eyes became round as she flushed further.

"And what did you say to him?" repeated Scorpius, reeling under this bit of information. Timothy must really fancy Rose to get her flowers from the Forbidden Forest.

Rose looked at the train floor and muttered, "I turned him down."

Scorpius didn't know why, but all of a sudden he felt like taking off his shirt and swirl it around over his head in celebration. He suddenly felt a smile breaking on his face and immediately covered his mouth with his hand.

Albus raised his eyebrows, "Are you serious? You turned him down?! He's _crazy_ about you!!"

"But-but-I barely know him! And I can say the same about him!" she cried out, "He is a really sweet guy but I've rarely talked to him before! I need to know him first before I can-you know- think of going on a date with him."

"You have to go out on a date with him to get to know him better!" exclaimed Albus. Scorpius felt his smile fading and got an urge to whack Albus around his head.

Why was Albus _forcing_ Timothy on her?

"I don't know," said Rose, biting her lower lip in confusion rather attractively. That little act caught Scorpius's eye, leaving him feeling all confused. What had happened to Rose over the summer? Why was she acting like a girl?!

_She IS a girl! _Said a voice in his head.

_Yeah right!_ He chuckled inwardly.

All of a sudden, a particular conversation came to his mind. A conversation he had with Rose the previous term when they had argued over Melissa and his infatuation with her.

"_To begin with, most of the guys think I'm a boy, an impression put forward, especially by you," said Rose, turning red as she said so._

Then he had rubbished the notion that he thought of her as a boy. And now he realized that she in fact had been right. He had indeed thought of her as a boy. No wonder he had reacted so strongly on seeing her dressed as a _normal_ girl. He sighed, tuning in to the conversation Albus and Rose were having.

"….but he really fancies you! If you don't trust him much, ask him for a study date in the library-"

"Al," began Scorpius tiredly, "Give her a break! She told you she doesn't want to go with him because she doesn't know him. So stop forcing Timothy on her!"

"I am not forcing Timothy on her!" said Albus indignantly, "Am I?"

"A bit." said Rose dryly, "Why can't you just accept the fact that maybe I don't want to date him? At least not now."

"So there is some hope for him?"

"I guess so. I mean he's incredibly sweet, charming, really smart and good-looking too. So yeah, maybe I just need some time to know him"

All of a sudden Scorpius felt this odd painful twisting of his stomach and he wanted to do nothing else but puke his guts out. His insides seem to be consumed by the blazing fire inside him. Breathing seemed to have become rather tough for him. The thought of Timothy-sodding-Zabini touching his Rose made him feel extremely nauseous and made the bile rise to his throat.

_Wait a minute, HIS Rose?_

He leant back in his seat, and looked outside the window, wanting to look at anything but Rose.

What on earth had happened to him? Why on earth was he reacting so strongly? Was it the brotherly instinct thingy that Albus felt for Lily? How was he really supposed to know?

He didn't have any sisters, except his twin cousins, Norah and Michelle, who went to Beauxbatons. But then he was never close to them. And, he didn't have any siblings at all. Every time he looked at Rose and Albus with their siblings, he felt incredibly jealous of the huge, loud, loving, and happy family they had. He absolutely loved his parents and loved spending time with them. But he found the manor too empty at times. However with time, he had grown accustomed to look at Albus and Rose as his family, providing him some solace, and making his stay at Hogwarts the most memorable time of the year.

He and Albus had a deep bond. Sometimes they didn't need words to communicate; an exchange of looks could say a thousand words. They understood each other in a way rarely visible in today's world where friendship was based on whether you have the looks or fame. Surprisingly, they never had an ego clash till now. Surprising because both had famous surnames. Most believed they were like twins, for they were technically the same person. Their friendship was as natural as breathing.

He and Rose too had a bond that seemed similar yet different. They bickered and had fall-outs almost every two months. Yet there was _something_ that always brought them back together, something that made them apologize and forgive each other, after calling each other absurd names and shouting at each other till their throats became hoarse. And that was saying a lot because he knew that Rose was one of the last people to be called forgiving. He figured that since he had an easy relationship with Albus, he needed a relationship that challenged him, which came in the form of Rose and his relationship with her.

His friendship with Rose had strengthened over the years, all thanks to their multiple fights, ranging from 'How dare you eat my chocolate' to 'Stop being an arse and quit poking me', from 'Magpies are better than Cannons' to 'You are sitting in my chair'. They were extremely silly and pointless.

But then they reminded him just how dull his life would be without those silly quarrels with Rose. And also those wonderful talks by the fire in the joint common room for all houses, where they could talk for hours about everything in life, without realizing how fast time had passed by. And those crazy races he'd have with her on the Quidditch pitch in the evening. Not to mention their special spot by the lake that was just meant for the two of them, where they could sit quietly, look at the sparkling lake and not feel awkward about the silence at all, even though noise was a staple in their relationship. And how could he forget their bloody brilliant hugs! Those few seconds of their embrace made his heart feel lighter and all he wanted to do was stay that way; burying his head in her soft locks, while she buried his head in his chest. Those hugs were full of warmth, compassion, affection and of course, love. There was no way in hell he would want to share any of it with anyone else. Okay he'd let all her male cousins have a share of it, but _no one_ else.

Albus was right. Rose was the most precious thing to him in the world, at least the most precious girl to him in the world. So it was rather natural that he'd feel extremely protective and possessive about her and feel extremely wary of the guys she'd fancy.

Scorpius sighed in relief. Whatever crazy reactions she had provoked in him, all of them were brotherly. There was nothing to worry about. Although the comments about her figure may have been the observations of a hormonal teenage male. Which he was.

The outside scenery was turning darker by the minute, giving the three of them the cue to change into their school uniform. Albus and Scorpius made quick visits to the toilet to change into their pants and shirts and came back to find an empty compartment.

Scorpius growled frustratingly when he realized that his mum hadn't knotted his tie, something she did every year since he didn't know (and never bothered to learn) how to wear a tie and he charmed the knotted tie so that the knot never got loose.

"What happened?" asked Albus in alarm. He looked at the undone tie in Scorpius's hands and then smirked, "It's never too late to learn how to wear a tie, Ferret Boy! Who is going to knot your tie huh?"

"I'll do it" came Rose's voice from the doorway. Scorpius looked at her to find her completely dressed, looking prim and proper from head to toe. Her long curly locks now were pulled back in a neat ponytail, not a single hair out of place.

Maybe she hadn't changed at all.

She came towards him and looped the tie around his neck and worked on it. Scorpius looked down at her as she worked and was very amused to see her cheeks turning a darker shade of red with each passing second. He absolutely loved seeing her blush madly for no real reason at all; it was a trait of hers he found rather endearing on her. Just on her.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, as she smoothed his tie down and finally looked up at him with those big sapphire eyes of hers he had always adored, "I had a rather pathetic beginning to the day with Hugo putting honey on my pillow while I was sleeping, so I guess I was just taking out my frustration on you."

Scorpius laughed, "You _always_ take out your frustration on me. I'm just glad I'm not completely responsible this time. And I really am sorry for not sending you a letter over the holidays. So we're okay?"

"In the end, we're _always_ okay, Scorpius."

Rose smiled back at him, making Scorpius gasp inaudibly. She had the most beautiful, brightest and liveliest smile ever. The braces had done a rather neat job.

"And I'm glad to hear that."

And once again he enveloped her into a tight hug, inciting a chuckle from her as she too wrapped her arms around his chest. Merlin! He had missed the mild apple scent of her shampoo. He had missed these hugs of hers that melted him. Not that he would ever let her know. And he missed her too. A LOT.

"All right! You lovebirds can cut it out now!" came Albus's amused voice.

"Honestly Al! You whine like a dog when the two of us have a fight" chuckled Rose, as she extracted herself from Scorpius's arms, "And then you whine again when we make up. Planning to be a whiner for the rest of your life? For that's not going to get you a girl, sweetie!"

Soon they were sitting in the Great Hall on their respective tables, having the scrumptious welcome feast. A flash of red caught Scorpius's eye and he immediately looked over to the Gryffindor table.

Fred seemed to have cracked a rather funny joke, making James snort pumpkin juice all over the table. Everybody in the vicinity applauded and cheered him on. Scorpius sniggered as he saw James being reprimanded by Rose for squirting juice all over her food. Rose turned, and his eyes met hers.

She shrugged and turned back to eyeing her plate with distaste. The grin immediately slipped off his face when he saw Joseph Finnegan, who was sitting next to her, offering his plate with a cocky grin on his face. Rose smiled but then shook her head and pushed the plate back towards him.

Scorpius almost growled loudly when he saw Joseph shifting extremely close to Rose and whispering something in her ear, making her laugh. His blood boiled when he saw her pinching Joseph's forearm playfully. Scorpius almost started from his seat when he saw Joseph putting an arm around her shoulders. But then he chuckled when Rose shrugged his arm off, and pointed at him with her fork threateningly, deflating Joseph's cocky expression.

Amidst the chuckling, he realized a painful fact, making him shut up instantly.

Boys were finally starting to notice the Rose. And he did not like it _at all. _Despite him telling her the previous year that she would find someone really great to be with, he knew there was really no one worth her. She couldn't possibly belong to anyone.

She belonged to him…_and_ _Al_ only.

He realized that he would have to keep a very close eye on her to make sure that she didn't dating any lunatic.

She was almost like a sister to him. So his anger and his actions were justified.

Almost.

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**AN:-**

**I have been notified that the minimum age for driving in England is seventeen. But then this story is based nearly 11 years into the future so you never know! **

**I guess all these one-shots are going to be equally long. **

**Next one most probably is going to be from Scorpius's POV as well. **

**Thank you for reading!! And now…REVIEW!!!!**

**Until next time,**

**Weasleykingrocks-The review parasite!!**


	3. December, 2021

**I know it has been a terribly long time since I updated this one! Let's say I didn't ****find much time and was suffering from writer's block.**

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**Disclaimer: All characters recognizable belong to J. K. Rowling. Copyright infringement unintended.**

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**December****, 2022**

Whistling cheerfully, Scorpius Malfoy strolled down the dark Hogwarts corridor. He ran his left hand through his hair and winked as two girls passed him. Predictably, they giggled rather loudly and smiled back in a rather flirty manner. Feeling extremely pleased, he continued his journey to the Joint Common Room.

He was getting a lot of female attention these days; girls younger and older than him looked hopefully at him as he passed them. More than once he had received heavily perfumed love-letters, begging him to go out on dates with them. In the beginning, all the attention baffled him because girls barely paid him any attention at all earlier and Scorpius had reasoned that it had to do with his infamous surname. He had expected his best friend, Albus Potter, to get such attention, well mainly because Albus was rich, belonged to the most famous family in the Wizarding world and had the cute boyish look that girls fell for immediately. But shockingly, the girls were gunning for _him_. And all of it had happened pretty much overnight. Or rather over the summer. The Aussie tan had surely done him wonders. Maybe looks did help a lot when it came to the social circle.

Not that he didn't enjoy the attention. He _loved_ every bit of it. It was pretty cool to have girls throwing loving glances at him when he had been used to getting glares and scorns earlier in his life. This had led to an astounding surge in his confidence in life, making him all the more irresistible to the girls of Hogwarts. This new twist in his life greatly annoyed Rose Weasley, his other best friend and one of the very few girls immune to his looks. She always seemed rather irritated with him mainly because of the change in his personality and would rant about how hopeless the girls were these days and he would get mad at her as she insinuated that girls who fall for him are hopeless and then they would end up bickering till it was time for bed.

He readjusted his tie and smoothed his shirt down as the door to the Joint Common Room came into view. As much he was tempted to let Rose know about what he had kept him busy, he didn't want to invite wrath from her, especially since he was in such a good mood.

He had finally managed to get a girlfriend!

And he had struck gold.

Amanda Whitby, a fellow Slytherin, was one of the finest looking girls in their year with a figure most girls envied and most boys lusted after. He was more on friendly terms with her than with her annoying best friend, Portia Zabini. After weeks of shameless flirting, he had finally asked her out in an empty corridor in the afternoon, leading to a rather non-verbal response from her.

Now _that _was an excellent way to let him know. Scorpius felt his face heating up as he recalled explosions taking place in his stomach as her tongue met his. Her moans as he touched her intimately had made his hormones go haywire, making him want _more_. Oh sweet Merlin, he wanted more. But he knew that despite him being all hormonal, he was a Malfoy. A Malfoy was a gentleman. So he had gently pulled away and told her that he wanted to take her out day after tomorrow to Hogsmeade, which had led to another bout of snogging and yet again, he was the one who had pulled away before something happened.

He opened the door to the Joint Common Room, the brightness of the room almost blinding him. Roar of chatter filled his ears as he entered the room, previously known as the Room Of Requirement, which had been resurrected after it was destroyed in the Second War. Scorpius looked around and found his best friends predictably right next to the fire place. Rose was as usual scribbling away on a piece of parchment with half a dozen books around her. Albus was as usual lounging in one of the squishy chairs, though looking thoroughly bored. Scorpius watched as Timothy Zabini approached Rose. Not surprisingly, he felt _hot_ fury flooding his veins as he saw the Slytherin bending low to talk to Rose. Not surprisingly, Rose's cheeks flamed red as he talked to her. Scorpius narrowed his eyes as he saw Rose take out a quill from her bag and give it to him. Scorpius' hands clenched into a fist as he saw Zabini leave with the quill, but looking back at Rose with what Scorpius believed was longing. Scorpius knew that sod still had a thing for Rose; he had overheard that freak asking Albus whether Rose was seeing or fancied anybody, after Quidditch practice one day…

Scorpius' stomach plummeted horribly when he realized that because of his new endeavor today, he had completely missed his Quidditch practice, and he knew just how seriously Albus took Quidditch practices. He wondered if he should apologize or act as if nothing happened when Rose looked up and spotted him. She scrunched her nose in disgust when she looked at him up and down.

So maybe he hadn't been able to hide the fact that he was out busy snogging. Maybe the lips gave him away or maybe the hair did him in. Why didn't he think of a spell to take care of them?

His stomach gave a loud rumble. Had he missed dinner as well? He looked at his watch and groaned as the watch showed thirteen minutes past eight.

How long was he out with Amanda today?

As Scorpius seated himself on one of the chairs, Rose commented, "Lost your virginity, Malfoy?"

People sitting around them turned to look sharply at them. Albus too had broken away from his stupor and now was looking at Scorpius incredulously, taking in his current attire.

Scorpius ignored Rose's comment, not wanting to start an argument and not willing to ruin in his mood. He was currently in his happy place and he didn't want anybody to take him out of that place.

"Scorpius? Mate? You okay?" came Albus' unsure voice.

Scorpius nodded, sinking into the arm chair, soaking in the heat from the fireplace.

"Absolutely fine", he said calmly to Albus, and then he turned to the ones who were still listening in, "Bugger off! Didn't McGonagall give you any work to do?"

Rose glared at him over her books and he raised his eyebrow at her, challenging her to retort. But she just sighed and returned to scribbling away on her parchment.

But before he knew it, he felt somebody slap his head from behind. Really hard.

"Ow!" he screamed, rubbing the hurting area with his palm.

"You deserved it!" came Albus' cross voice, "Why didn't you come for the practice today?"

"Was busy snogging Amanda."

"Sweet Merlin!" exclaimed Albus, forgetting his anger for a moment, "Really? Whitby?"

"Yeah. That's the one", said Scorpius, letting a small smile grace his face as he saw his _girlfriend_ enter the room. When her eyes found him, she winked at him and mouthed 'later'. Scorpius groaned internally. He honestly didn't know what she was planning to do tonight. A guy can have only certain amount of self control.

"I cannot have you missing practices because you're off with your girlfriend. You miss another practice, you off the team!"

"Aye aye, Captain!"

"Good. So you snogged her?" asked Albus, sounding too casual.

"Oh no. She snogged him", said Rose absentmindedly, dipping her quill in the inkpot.

"Really?" asked Albus, smirking, "She really made the first move?"

"Guess we know who would be the man in their relationship!" said Rose, smirking as she dotted her 'i's.

"Hey!" exclaimed Scorpius indignantly, pink blotches staining his cheeks, "That is not true! I made the first move!"

"Oh please!" said Rose rolling her eyes. She put her quill down, and looked at him knowingly, "I saw you asking her out. And she just jumped on you!"

"You saw them snogging?", asked Albus, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah. I walked away after she jumped on him", said Rose, wrinkling her nose, "It was like watching Slughorn snogging Hooch."

"That's an image", said Albus, making a face.

"Disturbing, right?"

"We were nothing like that!" said Scorpius more indignantly, "It wasn't just snogging. We did a lot more than that!!"

"Really?" asked Albus, looking a lot more interested while Rose looked extremely appalled.

"Please spare me the details!" said Rose, shaking her head.

"Fine. After Rose leaves, tell me everything!"

"Aww", Rose cooed sarcastically, "Look at you two girls, discussing one's first snog! Better get your nails done while you are gossiping!!"

Albus and Scorpius looked at her incredulously then turned to each other.

"I am happy for you mate!" said Albus happily, clapping him on his back.

"Well at least one of my friends is", said Scorpius scathingly.

"I am happy for you as well, Scorpius", said Rose sighing, as she turned the pages of _Mathematica Grammatica_, "She doesn't resemble a troll. She isn't really that bad. But I hope she knows it isn't going to last."

"Oh my god Rose!" said Scorpius, annoyed, "Can't you for once believe that my feelings are genuine?"

"I would have", she said, looking up at him seriously, "If you hadn't flirted with a million other girls at the same time, keeping all of them guessing about who you might really like."

"There aren't a million girls in Hogwarts", blurted Albus and then he cringed, "Don't know why I said that!"

Rose rolled her eyes and then looked at Scorpius, "If you really like her, I will eventually come _to know_. But to me right now, Amanda seems like a girl whom you just picked out from the crowd for a fun day."

"You're wrong!" said Scorpius shaking his head, "You'll see."

"Whatever."

Scorpius checked his watch and then looked at Amanda who gave him a furtive seductive look and started moving towards the door.

_Holy Mother of Merlin!_

"So kids", said Scorpius, springing up from his chair and watching Amanda exiting the room from the corner of his eye, "I better get going. Duty calls."

_I'm off to have a gooood time._

"Curfew time is ten", said Rose sharply, "If I catch you guys, you would not be spared."

"What are you going to do, give us _detention_?" mocked Scorpius, keeping his hands on his hips, imitating Rose's posture.

The redhead narrowed her eyes and her lips pressed into a thin line.

"Believe me. I will", she said, her voice cold and her eyes blazing.

Scorpius had just opened his mouth to retort when Albus interrupted.

"Don't. You're pushing your luck now", the raven-haired boy said cautiously, eyeing Rose's expression. Then trying to change the topic, "Rose, I suppose it'll be you and me to Hogsmeade this time."

To Scorpius' utmost surprise, Rose turned the wildest shade of red before she looked at Albus, "There is a bit of a correction. You might have to hang out with James and his friends because I too happen to have a _date_."

For an entire second, his mind became absolutely blank. Blank.

Then all of a sudden, something erupted in him. Something that was causing his insides to melt in an instant. Something that was causing his ears to burn. Something that made his hands itch to break something around him. He was seeing red all of a sudden, wanting to beat the person to pulp, who _dared_ to ask his Rose out for a date.

"You have a date?" asked Albus disbelievingly, eyes as wide as saucers, "FOR REAL?"

"Yes", said Rose, now looking annoyed, "Is it that hard for you to believe? Is there something funnily _undateable_ about me?"

"Of course not!" exclaimed Scorpius in an instant, and then flushed as Albus looked at him with narrowed eyes. What on earth made him say that??

Rose was _definitely_ date-worthy. Merlin! He knew she was worth a lot more. But he wouldn't voice it out loud. Albus as it is thought he had something for Rose. Like _that_ would ever happen!

Seriously.

"Who are you going with?" asked Scorpius, his tone harsher than usual.

"Joseph Finnegan."

Scorpius could see himself standing over Joseph Finnegan, laughing like the devil with a trident in his hand while the prick begged for mercy, crying out that he was willing to dance in his underwear in the Great Hall during dinner proclaiming his love for Sprout only if Scorpius spared his life.

That git was _so dead_. How dare he ask Rose out?

"Joseph? Finnegan? Joseph Finnegan?", asked Albus, turning purple, eyes popping out, "Why? Why? Why would you want to go out with him?"

"Exactly Rose!" said Scorpius, now sitting back in his chair to stop himself to walking over to the Gryffindor tower and knocking out Finnegan, "You deserve so much better than him!"

Rose sighed. She rolled her parchment and looked at them seriously.

"I knew you guys would react like this. But I have gotten to know Joseph pretty well in the past few weeks-."

"I barely see you guys interacting outside class!" exclaimed Albus, incredulity written all over face, "How can you guys claim to know each other better?"

Scorpius knew that wasn't true. He had seen Joseph a lot more around Rose than he had ever before. And he always assumed that it had to with prefect stuff. He never really thought that they- for how long have they been together??!

"You would have noticed us interacting if you weren't busy staring at Shirley Walter's backside the entire time!"

"I do not stare at her backside!" said Albus, the famous Weasley blush covering his face.

Scorpius snorted despite the situation, "Yeah you do. Sometimes I am very tempted to wipe the drool off your face. It doesn't look too cool."

"We were talking about Rose here!" said Albus quickly, his face still flushing, "So when did he pop _the question?_"

"Today in the library. And I always thought he was sort of cute, charming and I always had fun with him, so decided to give it a shot. If the date goes well, then only would we go ahead with it!"

Albus seemed to relax a little bit, "It depends on the date? Till then you guys aren't dating?"

"No."

"Cool. But next time you decide to date someone, let me know earlier so that I can threaten that guy beforehand.."

"Sure. Not that it matters. Because you can only scare yourself, Al."

"_Hey_.."

Scorpius watched in horror as Albus sunk back into his chair, looking calmer than before. What had happened to Albus? Scorpius had expected his best friend to be stricter, but his tirade ended before it could even start! Rose was going out on a date with a guy she barely knew and who in no way deserved her!

He had to do _something_ to stop it!

"So", said Rose casually, getting up, "I better get going. Need to keep bag in the tower before I leave for patrol. Good night."

Albus nodded, a faraway look in his eyes, while Scorpius still pondered over how to make sure Rose never went out with Finnegan.

There has got to be someway in which he can ensure that Finnegan doesn't even dare to dream about Rose…

It was as if something fell in place with a loud _thunk_. Scorpius smirked; he knew there was a reason why he was in Slytherin.

"Hey Al", said Scorpius cautiously, moving his chair closer to Albus, "You don't like the idea of Rose dating Finnegan, right?"

"Yeah", sighed Albus, straightening up in his chair, "I was kind of rooting for Zabini. He really, sincerely likes her-"

"Okay Potter. You need to get out of 'I love Timothy Zabini' fan club", said Scorpius, incredibly annoyed with Albus. What was so special about Zabini anyway? "Rose said that she'll date him if the date's a success right?"

"Yeah. Didn't you just hear her?"

"What if her date goes wrong? What if _we_ make her date go wrong?"

"What are you suggesting? We 'gatecrash' their date and make it seem like we're not?"

"Precisely my friend. Precisely!"

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"You talk to her!"

"She'll kill me!"

"It was your plan!"

"But I thought the two of us could talk to her at the same time.."

"You were the one being a complete arse for the past few days…apologize to her and then suggest to you and Amanda going with her and Joseph on a double date."

Scorpius looked apprehensively at the redhead that was Rose, watching her read her book on one of the benches in the courtyard.

"I'll be back in a few minutes. Need to talk to Neville about something", whispered Albus, "Good luck"

He took a deep breath and walked towards her.

Till last night, he was all excited about his plans to sabotage Rose's date. But today, all of a sudden he started feeling nervous. He knew their chances of him spoiling their date was extremely high, but at the same time if Rose came to know that he, Scorpius Malfoy, was interrupting on purpose, he would definitely be dead meat. He had already been at the receiving end of Rose's anger too many times to able to count, but Albus had said that Rose was really hot-tempered and that he hadn't really seen _anything_.

As it is, he was currently in Rose's bad books. All he had to do was ruin their date and be as discreet as possible.

Feeling extremely warm, he sat next to her.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" came Rose's sharp voice and he cringed.

"I came here to apologize", said Scorpius, looking straight ahead to see a couple disappearing into the bushes close to them.

"For what?" asked Rose, still not taking her eyes off her book.

"For being such an arse in past few weeks. I know I have been a complete jerk, a James Potter wannabe. I know I haven't been able to handle the sudden surge in attention from girls well. So yeah, I'm sorry for being such a jerk towards you and I promise I wouldn't act the way I did."

Rose closed her book and then looked at him seriously for a few minutes before she spoke.

"Scorpius", she started, a small smile on her face, "This has happened to almost all guys I know. Teddy, James, Fred, Louis, and even Hugo who's thirteen, has got fans. Don't tell Albus this but he's a _hot_ topic in the girls' bathroom. Mum told me about the time when Dad got noticed by girls. He too got cocky and arrogant. But in the end, he was still the same guy. I have known you for nearly five years. There maybe changes in your attitude and personality with time, but I know that in the end, you would always be the slightly shy, sincere and arrogant git I became friends with."

"You'll be able to forgive me if I continue acting like a prat?"

"I _know_ I'll be able to forgive you. Because I _know_ you and therefore I know you wouldn't be a prat for the rest of your life. It is just a phase you're currently struggling with, but you'll learn how to manage."

Scorpius looked at her, amazed. He didn't know how and why she had so much faith and confidence in him that he would always be fine and always be the person he is. But he was thankful that she did.

"Uh..thanks", he said, flushing slightly. He knew there was a reason just the thought of life without her seemed impossible. Her just being in it made it a lot more comfortable and worth living.

Rose leaned towards him and he got a whiff of a light floral smell that he always associated with her. She kissed him on the cheek and smiled widely at him. For that one tenth of a second her lips touched his face, his body froze. Then slowly and steadily, warmth from that spot on his face spread to his entire body. He didn't know why but he could feel tingles down his back. He slowly turned his head to look at her and found her trusting and earnest blue eyes looking back at him. He swore to Merlin that those pair of eyes were the most beautiful he had ever seen in his life and would make sure that those eyes were never filled with tears.

Which reminded him of what he had to do.

"Uh Rose", said Scorpius uncertainly, berating himself to get lost in Rose's eyes and forgetting the purpose of him visiting her, "Do you think it would be okay if Amanda and I join you and Joseph at Hogsmeade?"

"Why? You can't stand that guy!"

"Well that's the point! I thought it would be great if I could give him a second chance and actually know him like you do. Well not really the way you do-but you know!"

"Really?" asked Rose, looking amazed, "You would do that for me?"

"Rose. I hope you know that I would do _anything_ for you", said Scorpius earnestly, taking her hand.

That was the biggest truth he knew. He was willing to do _anything_ for Rose Weasley.

He must have imagined it, because he had seen sadness flash in those eyes and such a statement usually makes a person happy.

She grinned, showing him those perfect set of teeth, and wrapped her arms around him tightly.

_Oh no! Not that hug!_

Scorpius wished she didn't do that. It made his resolve of ruining her date weaker.

"Great!" said Rose excitedly, extracting herself from Scorpius' arms and getting up, "I better inform Joseph about our double date!"

"Sure!" said Scorpius, grinning weakly, "So Albus and I are going to be there to keep an eye on you and Joseph-."

"Excuse me?!", asked Rose raising her eyebrows, halting in the process of picking her bag up, "You and _Albus_??"

Scorpius cussed mentally. Albus was supposed to join them but he was to be under his invisibility cloak, keeping an eye on Joseph and perhaps shooting a few jinxes at him from under the cloak.

Rose Weasley was like the most intoxicating drink out there. He couldn't keep secrets when she was around him. Damn redhead!

"Uh well…don't tell Albus this", stammered Scorpius, trying to do damage control "He had planned that he would surprise you by joining us with his date!"

_You IDIOT!_

"He has a date?!" squeaked Rose excitedly, "Why didn't he tell me that before?? You know who she is, right?? TELL ME!!!"

"Rosie Posie", laughed Scorpius uncomfortably, knowing very well that he was in _big_ trouble, "It's a surprise, isn't it? You'll see who the lucky girl is tomorrow!!"

_Death is certain. I hope I have a say in the way I want to die!_

"Aww!" said Rose looking disappointed for a second before she brightened up again, "It would be so awesome. The three best friends having their first dates together! This sounds even more fun!!"

"Yay!" he said, giving her two thumbs up and a fake smile, "And remember, not a single word to Albus. Act all surprised when you see him with his date tomorrow."

"Right on!" winked Rose, "Oh here he comes. I better leave before I pounce on him and demand to know who the girl is."

Scorpius turned around to see Rose crossing Albus on her way to the castle and giving him a huge smile. Albus looked back at her, looking extremely baffled.

"Why did she smile at me like that?" asked Albus suspiciously as he reached Scorpius and sat next to him on the bench.

"Uh", said Scorpius closing his eyes, "I might have told her you were going to join us with your date."

"Ok. So you told her-you told her WHAT?!?" said the raven haired boy, looking shocked, "Why? Why? Why? Why would you do that?"

Scorpius told him the entire story and Albus smacked his own forehead.

"You're an idiot!" he hissed, "You could have said, "oh I meant Amanda", but no, you had to say that!"

"That was simpler", said Scorpius, nodding before sighing, "I know I have gotten you in a rut. And I'll get you out."

"You better", snarled Albus. He gripped his jet-black hair in frustration. "Now think!"

"Well", began Scorpius slowly, "We obviously have to look for a girl who is willing to go along with the plan."

"But", interrupted Albus, "She should be someone I know. Not just some random girl. And-", he stopped, looking sheepish, "Somewhat hot."

"Hot?!"

"Well, if I am going on a pretend date, I might as well go with a good-looking one!"

"I do have a girl in mind", said Scorpius, a small smile playing on his lips. _This should be fun!_ "She's one of your good friends. And she isn't bad to look at."

"Who?"

* * *

"Hey Elora!! Wait up!"

A blonde in pigtails with a round face, turned to see Scorpius running towards her.

"Hey Scorpius", she smiled warmly, "Why in such a hurry?!"

"I need to talk to you in private", he said, slightly red in the face from running so much. Without waiting for her response, he caught her arm and pulled her to a corner.

"What's wrong?" asked Elora Longbottom concernedly.

"Albus didn't have the guts to do it. So I am asking you out on his behalf!"

She flushed furiously, resembling a ripe tomato.

"That is a mean joke!" she said, crossing her arms in front of her chest, "Just because you overheard me talking to Rose about him does not give you the liberty to poke fun at me!"

Scorpius sighed, "Okay here's the thing. You know Rose is going on a date with Joseph Finnegan, right?"

"Yeah", said Elora grimacing, "I don't really approve of the guy, but she seems to like him which is pretty odd."

"And why would that be odd?" asked Scorpius curiously.

"Because we all believe there is something going on between the two of you, and not her and Joseph."

"No", he said, his stomach churning uncomfortably, "No. No. NO. There isn't _anything_ going on between the two of us. However, I feel Joseph's feelings towards Rose aren't sincere, and I don't want him to date her so I'm planning to ruin her date-."

"That's so mean!" exclaimed Elora, "She just wants to have some fun. So let her!"

"Well she should have fun with the right guy!"

"Can you name the so-called right guy for her?"

"Can't think of anyone", he said, shaking his head. _Except me, _were the words silenced in the sentence. His damn subconscious was seriously out for a toss!

"Exactly. She can find the right guy on her own."

"Look, El", said Scorpius desperately, using her nickname to appease her, "You and I both know that Joseph is the kind of guy who believes in groping the girl on the first date itself. Something tells me that his intentions aren't sincere. So please co-operate."

Elora looked at him sternly for a minute, then dropped her angry stance.

"So what do I have to do?"

* * *

"Has Hogwarts always held so many girls?" asked Albus, as they waited in the Entrance Hall for the gates of Hogwarts to open.

"Pretty much", said Scorpius, extremely bored.

"Hi guys!" came an excited voice behind them.

Both turned around to see Elora smiling at them.

Scorpius noted that despite this not being a real date, Elora had certainly put in effort to dress up for the occasion. She was definitely wearing trendier clothes than she usually did. She had left her hair open making her look extremely different as he was used to seeing her in pigtails. And, she definitely had put on make up. The general effect was very pleasing to the eyes.

"Hey El", said Albus offhandedly, and started looking through the crowd immediately. Perhaps looking for Shirley Walters.

Scorpius felt like hitting his friend when he saw Elora's face fall. The least he could have done was compliment her_._

"Hey. You look great", began Scorpius awkwardly. Then in a louder voice, "Doesn't she, Al?"

"Sure", said Albus, now staring at the person he was looking for earlier.

"Ignore him", said Scorpius in an undertone, as Elora looked further disappointed, "He's a git. And I did mean it when I told you that you look great."

"Thanks", she said, a small smile breaking on her face, "It's just that I don't think he'll ever notice me."

"Sweetheart he doesn't have any clue about your feelings. So as I said yesterday, just be yourself. Flirt with him a little if you can. You already look pretty glamorous today. He'll notice the wonderful person you are and then BAM- he'll fall in love with you."

She snorted, "Do you even realize these words are coming out of your mouth?"

"Pretty mu-Hey!" said Scorpius brightly when he saw Amanda making her way towards him. He looked carefully at her and he was indeed very pleased with the tiny skirt and the leggings she was wearing along with it.

She had been pretty upset with him when he didn't turn up for the scheduled snog session day before yesterday. But the following day, she made sure he made up. Scorpius had to admit the snogging part was fun. This was his first experience so he definitely enjoyed the snogging part a lot. And maybe the feeling up part as well; he seemed to be doing that well because she couldn't seem to stop moaning, because she pulled him closer, begging him to do more. And knowing that he could bring a girl so much pleasure positively thrilled him.

But he didn't know if he wanted more. Especially with her.

Amanda was nature wise quite similar to him. They got on pretty decently. Their physical chemistry was good as well. But there was that _something_ missing in their relationship. Granted it wasn't much of relationship now, since they had been dating for two days and snogging for half of it, but he realized that they lacked the connectivity that really governed a relationship.

Maybe he was being too ridiculous about all of it. He was sixteen for the love of Merlin! This was his first relationship. He should have the fun while it lasts!

_How does that make you any different from Joseph? __He too wants Rose to have his fun._

Shaking his head, he tuned into what Amanda was saying. Clueing in from Elora's expression, she was talking about something rather horrible.

"…and I am like what? And she said it wasn't meant for me for I am a complete whore. Like you'd believe that!"

Terrifyingly bone-chilling.

* * *

Well over three hours had passed since he was in Hogsmeade, and Scorpius was busy trying to decide which had been the worst incident till now.

One: Rose blurting out Elora's secrets. They had met up with Finnegan and Rose at Three Broomsticks around noon for lunch. They had been doing just fine till the redhead opened her mouth and made her feelings about Albus and Elora pretty clear. She kept saying things like 'I am so glad that you finally told him how you felt. The pining was really getting a bit too much." "So Al, how did you really ask her out? Or did she make the first move?" "You have no idea how great it is to know that things worked out between the two of you". Elora was grinning weakly the entire time but Scorpius knew the poor thing was secretly wishing for the Earth to crack open and devour her. Albus avoided looking at Elora, making her more miserable than she was before.

Two: Amanda being too obvious about what she really wanted. He knew she liked snogging and all. Merlin! He loved it a lot too. So she kept deliberately touching his arms, ran her fingers across his chest, and had even whispered, "Let's go and celebrate Christmas, _our_ style". But he didn't want anything to distract him from his mission. Her teasing had reached its height, when her hand had started grazing his thigh, dangerously close to his groin. He had jolted up suddenly to make her stop when she didn't get the hint, resulting in his butterbeer falling on his jeans, unfortunately staining the most inappropriate region. Finnegan had laughed his heart out, and had commented, "Getting a teensy bit excited, aren't we?" But he had been the only one who reacted that way. Amanda looked furious that he had rejected her advances; Albus and Elora weren't even looking his way; and Rose was just at her blushing best despite having not done anything, avoiding looking at that area.

Three: Finnegan getting all touchy with Rose. More than once Finnegan had wrapped his arms around her shoulder, pulling her in towards him. Scorpius knew that it was a trick to feel her soft curves against his body. Most of the boys he knew, who already had girlfriends, claimed that holding a girl like that always let you know of what she had. Scorpius himself knew that Rose was very _well endowed_. They had hugged enough number of times by now for him to know she had the _real_ curves. Her soft body pressed up against his felt _great_. So he had to make sure that any further physical proximity between them impossible. Scorpius felt his pulse rate go up drastically as he saw Finnegan tuck a stray curl behind Rose's ear. He fumed in his seat as he saw Rose blush prettily as Finnegan leaned in rather intimately to whisper something. Scorpius watched as Finnegan tenderly kissed Rose on the cheek. Something inside him was roaring at him, insulting him for not picking a fight with Finnegan already. He was _burning_, his hands itching to wipe the smug smile off Finnegan's face. This had been the angriest he had been till now. Ever.

Four: Finnegan had somehow managed to excuse Rose and himself from the triple date. The second they left, Elora too shot up from the table and escaped Three Broomsticks. Albus followed her, looking troubled and seeming to want to talk to her about something important. Scorpius on the other hand, had no idea where Finnegan and Rose had disappeared. And he was going _mad._

Maybe the fourth one was the winner.

Scorpius sighed as Amanda dragged him from shop to shop and from person to person. Earlier, he had imagined his first date to be perfect in every sense of the word. He had imagined that he would have a great lunch with Amanda. They would visit every shop, except Puddifoot's. Then they would go to the grassy area he and Rose had discovered the previous term and talk, and cuddle and snog some more.

He, however, feeling extremely miserable. Neither did he have any idea about Rose nor Albus. It was snowing heavily so everything was looking the same. He looked at Amanda who was chattering rather happily and having no clue about the fact that he wasn't paying any attention to her at all, and he immediately felt guilty.

He was out on a date. He was supposed to have fun. He was supposed to pay attention to his girl, compliment her, and keep her happy. But he didn't have much energy to talk to her, least of all do stuff with her.

"Scorpius, are you all right?" came Amanda's concerned voice, "You look kind of sick".

"Maybe I am", he said with a shrug, "Let's sit somewhere…"

Scorpius trailed off when he saw a very familiar redhead along with a tall guy exit Weasley Wizard's Wheezes. Something suddenly woke up in him, giving him the strength to pull Amanda towards him and whisper in her ear, "Maybe I'm not ill. I know of this place…come on!"

He finally started talking to Amanda while discretely keeping an eye on Rose and Finnegan. Scorpius laughed whenever Amanda giggled assuring her that he was indeed listening to her. They soon enough had left the village and were moving to the open space he had discovered the previous term.

"You know", began Amanda her giggles subsiding, "I was really surprised when you asked me out for Hogsmeade."

"Really? And why would that be?"

"Because I thought you and Rose-."

"Why does everyone think there is something going on between the two of us?!" exclaimed Scorpius indignantly, momentarily forgetting about watching out for Rose and Finnegan.

"Because it does look like there is something going on between the two of you!"

"Well, there is NOTHING going between the two of us. I asked you out because you're stunning, and really loads of fun to be with."

A huge smile broke on her face, "Really?"

"Yeah, Some-Mph!"

Scorpius was silenced as Amanda launched herself on him, planting her lips on his, taking him by surprise. She had a habit a doing that a lot. But who was he to complain about it?

His thoughts left his mind for a moment when her tongue entered his mouth, moving against his. He couldn't help but cup her face while she kissed him. Every part of his body was humming in a very, _very_ pleasant manner. He felt her push him backwards and soon enough, he felt his back hit something. Judging by the cylindrical wall that he could feel against his back, he figured that she had pushed him against a tree.

_Kinky._

Her mitten covered hands fisted the collar of his jacket, pulling him closer and removing every bit of space between them. Feeling his world spin due to lack of oxygen, he pulled back, getting a very strong urge to find a warm private corner so that they could continue getting cozy. He slowly opened his eyes to meet Amanda's grey ones.

"Wow", she whispered against his lips, sounding extremely pleased, "That was-."

Scorpius didn't allow her to continue; he pulled her flush against his body and kissed her again, turning around and trapping her between the trunk of the tree and his body. His lips moved to her left cheek pressing feather light kisses on it, before she moaned, "Stop teasing me!"

Scorpius had decided that he wouldn't let her complain, so he kissed her on the mouth, making her gasp loudly. His hands had just moved under her jumper, when he heard Rose's giggle from a place very nearby.

He froze instantly. He pulled back to see that they were just two trees away from them. He could see them clearly but they couldn't see him unless they really tried. Amanda, realizing that he had stopped, asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing", he said gruffly, before kissing her neck. He strained his ears so that if Rose needed him he would know, but at the same time tried to pay attention to his girlfriend as well.

"You know", came Finnegan's husky voice, "I had been meaning to ask you out since the last year. But I never could pluck up the courage."

"So much for being a Gryffindor!" came Rose's teasing voice.

"Seriously! You can ask Chris about it. But this year, before coming to Hogwarts I had decided to finally make a move or move on. And good thing I did. You look a lot more stunning than I could ever remember!"

"That's a lie!"

Scorpius could completely picture Rose blushing hard when Joseph complimented her. He tried to twist his way so that he could get another glimpse at him, but at that inopportune moment, Amanda had raised her legs and wrapped them around his hips, almost making him stumble.

"It could never be a lie", came Finnegan's voice and there was pin-drop silence.

Scorpius grew a bit tense as he realized that neither of them were talking. Amanda now moved her tongue over his earlobe biting it softly, making him hiss.

And then all of a sudden, he heard Rose's strangled cry.

He pulled away immediately from Amanda, causing her to lose her balance and fall on the snow covered ground on her backside.

"Wha-?" came her indignant voice. But Scorpius didn't give a damn. Because in front of him was a sight that caused every cell in his body to burn in absolute _fury_. He felt as if some monster was ripping his insides out, causing him to bleed profusely and scream in agony from the inside. His breathing had almost stopped and he started feeling extremely dizzy. He felt extremely nauseous and at the same time could feel his blood boil so intensely that he wouldn't be surprised if his veins and arteries burst in a few seconds.

Rose Weasley and Joseph Finnegan were locked in a fierce embrace and kissing as if there was no tomorrow. One of Finnegan's hands were on the curve of her arse, and the other had locked itself in her open hair. One of her hands had slipped around his waist and the other one was gripping his jacket collar. They pulled back for a second before tilting their heads to the opposite side and kissing again, grip now firmer than before.

The view of Rose snogging Finnegan pierced him to the very core. He tried to open his mouth and shout out a warning of sorts, but all he could manage was open and close his mouth like a fish. He even tried moving ahead, but his feet were rooted to the ground.

But then the moment he saw Finnegan's hand moving lower, pulling her knee upwards and wrapping her knee around his waist and pushing her against the bark of the tree, that was the moment he _snapped_. In less than a second, Scorpius pulled his wand out and roared, "_IMPEDIMENTA!_"

His aim was perfect, and so was the spell. It hit Finnegan right in his arm and he flew, hitting a snow-covered tree, twenty metres away. The moment he hit the tree, the snow on the tree too fell down on him.

"JOSEPH!" came Rose's shocked voice. She ran towards the pile of ice, and quickly pointed her wand at it. The snow covered started moving away of its own accord, allowing Finnegan to get some fresh air to breathe.

Scorpius pondered whether he should go ahead and inspect the damage he had caused or even help Finnegan out. But then images of Rose and Finnegan kissing came into his mind and then he figured that it would be better if he stayed far, _far_ away from Finnegan.

He saw Rose mutter the counter-curse, after which Finnegan got up immediately shaking his head. She was trying to check him for injuries, but he shrugged her arm off rudely.

Scorpius almost swore loudly when he heard Finnegan bellow at Rose.

"-knew it wasn't worth dating you! I don't know why I decided to give it a shot! As long as you have Malfoy watching out for you, forget me being around you, no guy would be willing to date you!"

Finnegan turned away from her and walked towards him, looking furious.

"Like father like son." Finnegan snarled at him, before walking away.

Scorpius would have retorted, but currently in front of him was a devastated looking Rose Weasley. The sight of tears building in her eyes, made him want to throw himself off the closest cliff. He caused those tears. Not Finnegan, _him_.

"Why did you that?!" Rose cried, her eyes wide open and blazing in anger.

He didn't think he could meet her eyes and answer her, but then he noticed her disheveled hair, swollen lips and what suspiciously looked like a hickey on her neck. And that was all it took for the dam holding in all the anger to collapse.

"His hands were all over you!" he said angrily, fuming on the spot.

"So?!"

"SO?! Couldn't you see that he was just interested in getting in your knickers than actually being with you?!"

"We had barely even started dating…and you think that he was trying to get into my knickers? What is the matter with you?!"

"He is not right for you!"

"And all of a sudden I need your approval of the guy I date?"

"YES!"

"You are mental, Mal-."

Their argument however was cut short as two new voices interrupted them.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I AM IN LOVE WITH YOU, YOU DOLT!"

Scorpius snapped his attention from Rose and to his horror, saw Albus and Elora a little distance away. It looked as if Albus had finally caught up with her and confronted her after chasing her for long. Elora was looking extremely upset and Albus looked stunned. The blonde turned to look at Rose who was looking at the pair in confusion, momentarily forgetting her own problem.

"What-why? Why? Why? Why would you say something of that sort?!" squeaked Albus, running a hand through his hair.

"_Why would I say something of that sort?" _repeated Elora, dumbfounded, "What do you mean by that? I meant every word I said."

"Is that why you agreed to go along with our plans of sabotaging Rose's date?"

Scorpius swore furiously. He looked at Rose to find her looking back at him, her tears now falling, disbelief and betrayal evident in her eyes.

"NO! I mean- I don't know!"

There was a very piercing silence that suffocated him. Albus and Elora still hadn't noticed them; the latter was staring at the ground while the former was staring at her, eyes furrowed in disbelief. Rose was still looking at him with deep pain reflecting in her eyes, asking him why he did what he did.

Scorpius wished the earth could crack him open and take him in. This had to be the most awful moment of his life. Not only had his plans backfired, they had backfired _bad_.

"We should stop hanging out together", came Albus' quiet voice, causing all eyes to turn towards him.

"What?" came Elora's equally quiet though threatening voice.

"We are not going to happen, El", said Albus, looking fiercely at her, "So it would be better if we don't hang out together anymore!"

"You want to cut out all ties with me?! You don't want to be friends anymore" exclaimed Elora angrily, spitting her hair out of her face, "You think that is the solution to this mess?"

"Yes. At least till you are okay." came a firm reply.

Scorpius had never been more tempted to slap his best friend this bad before. Albus had just defined the height of incredulity. Cutting off his friendship with Elora? Scorpius was sure that it had to be the most heartbreaking moment for her. And _he_ was responsible for it, not Albus.

He gasped loudly as Elora punched Albus right on the nose, inciting a rather loud "OW!" from him. He watched as Albus crumbled to the ground, clutching his nose.

"You need to grow up, Potter!" said Elora bitterly, crossing her arms across her chest, "But I respect your wishes. I won't hang out with you any more!"

Scorpius watched as Elora ran away from the scene, leaving Albus alone. He felt a lump rising to his throat as he realized that he was the reason why their friendship broke. All because of his immature planning.

"So Elora and Albus were never really on a date, were they?" came Rose's angry voice.

She looked livid, and for someone who had never been intimidated by women's glares, to say he was terrified was an understatement of epic proportions. His heart thudded loudly, waiting for the big blow up. Oh he had _fucked up __**bad**_.

"But Finnegan wasn't RIGHT for you", he said, grasping at the last straws, "He just admitted that it wasn't worth dating you-"

"You-are-why-uh-pig-AAAAAAAARGH!"

Scorpius had merely blinked before Rose punched him straight on the nose. His eyes started watering immediately and he whimpered pitifully as he clutched his hurt nose. Oh sweet Merlin, it _hurt_!

But by the time he looked up, Rose wasn't in front of him anymore.

Figuring that it would be weeks before Rose goes back to talking to him again, he started to move towards Albus, who was looking at him with raised eyebrows, when somebody behind him coughed.

_FUUUUUUUUUUUCK!_

Grimacing, Scorpius turned around to see Amanda with her arms crossed in front her chest, looking quite angrily at him.

"So I suppose I was a pawn in your little plan, now wasn't I?" she spat angrily.

Scorpius didn't bother to correct her. He was way too tired, feeling way too down, and in immense pain to let her accusations bother him.

"I knew it!" she shrieked, her eyes expression wild, "You used me to try and make Weasley jealous!"

Scorpius just shrugged.

Before he knew, Amanda's hand came in contact with his cheek, making it sting.

"Admit that you have a thing for Weasley. Would make life simpler for you and the rest of us girls."

Albus approached him as Amanda walked away.

"You were a complete arse back there", sighed Scorpius, watching Amanda's perfect glossy hair bounce as she walked away. He touched his nose tenderly again, inspecting for damage.

"At least I am not the one who got hit twice by girls and that too in the same day", said Albus chuckling, before whining and clutching his nose.

"Girls really are too much to handle aren't they?"

"Oh yeah."

There was a moment's silence before Albus spoke, "Butterbeer?"

"I was thinking Firewhisky."

"Works for me."

* * *

**AN**

**That's that and no harm done!**

**Would love to hear what you guys have to say about this one. Even if you hated it, let me know! :)**


	4. April, 2022

**I know it's been MONTHS since I last updated any of my stories, but had a LOT of things to take care of**** including the Commonwealth Games 2010, personal issues (they just sprung up out of nowhere!), and of course, studies.**

**Wont bore you with any talk now…Read on!**

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**Disclaimer: Everything recognizable belongs to JKR. No copyright infringement intended.**

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**4. April****, 2022**

"Is he planning to let us go back to the castle this year?" asked Hugo Weasley tiredly, his face covered in sweat and grime, "We have been practicing for three hours now! The sun set like half an hour ago!"

Rose Weasley, who had been hovering next to hoops on her broom, having already caught the snitch thrice, merely shrugged.

"James has lost it!" she muttered darkly, as she watched her cousin and their team captain, James Potter, teaching his fellow chasers new throwing tactics, "He keeps talking about how it is his last chance of winning the cup, which is complete bollocks because he has another year left at Hogwarts!"

"Hey sis. Tell him to shut it and let us rest for the match tomorrow! All of us know that he'll listen to you."

"I guess I should. I mean I have barely studied for the OWLs! And they start like in two months-"

Hugo snorted, "Have barely studied? Albus told me you've already finished the entire syllabus once! That's five years worth of magic taught at Hogwarts!"

"So?" exclaimed Rose indignantly, "There's no harm in studying a little more!"

"Whatever. You have got to get some sleep tonight. Tomorrow is the final. We cannot afford to lose to Ravenclaw. We just can't."

"You don't need to worry about me, Hugo!" she said, training her eyes on James who was now bellowing at his fellow chasers, "Few hours of sleep have just done fine for me in the past."

Before Hugo could argue further, Rose flew towards James who was now waving away his fellow chasers, who were cursing under their breath.

"James", she said very sternly when she was in his hearing range, "You're losing it now. Seriously, call it a day so that we can get enough rest before the match tomorrow!"

James looked back at her, his eyes burning with a maniac-like gleam.

"This isn't a game-!"

"It isn't?" asked Rose in mock horror, "then what are we doing flying on broomsticks busting our arses off for nearly three hours?"

"Come Rose. Another few minutes of practicing and we'll-."

"Become the best Quidditch team in the world, beating out the best international competition", she said, nodding amusedly, "But seriously James, we are tired. If we don't leave now, you wouldn't get to see a very active team tomorrow for the match. That, and I'll hex you good."

"But-"

"James. Everyone knows we're the best. So calm down. End the practice _now_."

James looked at her for a few seconds with his eyebrows furrowed, and then shrugged.

"TEAM!" he roared, his voice echoing in the stadium. Instantly, all his teammates flew towards him.

"I guess we have practiced enough-"

"Enough you say?" muttered Fred Weasley darkly, swinging his beater's bat over his shoulder, "My right arm's about to fall off." His fellow beater, fourth year Samantha Robins nodded.

"-are easily the best team on paper and on the pitch-"

"We know the speech, Jimmy Poo," said Hugo, sighing, "Can we get some rest now?"

James looked at him, affronted on being interrupted.

"Fine. Leave. I know you don't find my speech motivational and all. But whatever", he said moodily and flew towards the changing rooms.

"He'll be fine", said Fred looking knowingly at James' retreating figure, "He does go a little nutty at times, that James"

"You mean nuttier than usual?" said Rose.

"Well. If you want to put it that way", said Fred, scratching his head. His face suddenly turned very serious, "This is his first final as a captain. So naturally he would be feeling a whole lot responsible for whatever happens tomorrow. I have seen him going absolutely mad at night. He has been having nightmares for a while now. So don't be too harsh on him!"

"Look", said David Watson, a fifth year and one of the chasers, "Captaining a Quidditch team, that too the Gryffindor team, is nearly suicidal. Everyone knows that. But then, someone has to let him know to what extent is the madness appreciated!"

"Why don't we all talk to him?" squeaked Ashley Kingsley, the third chaser of the team, "That way he can't take his anger or frustration out on any one of us!"

"That sounds about right!" murmured the rest.

Rose cursed and looked at her watch, it was already well past six. Consoling James may take another hour or so. Then there was dinner as well. When was she supposed to finish her homework? And then she was also supposed to finish Ancient Runes syllabus by tonight!

There was just so much to do!

She flew behind her teammates, wondering how she could excuse herself.

All of them touched down and walked towards the changing room. She walked quietly behind them, thinking of ways to escape easily.

However, the sight of her teammates crowding around a sulky looking James and then taking him by surprise by engaging in a group hug with him, made her _want_ to be a part of this moment.

She too joined the group hug, figuring that she can skip dinner to save time.

* * *

Rose narrowed her eyes as she checked the meaning of Aiwaaz in her Runes dictionary. She had allotted ninety five hours to third year-Runes revision for the OWLs, and she was slowly and surely running out of time.

Her mother had made her the time-table. Her mother had assured her that the time-table was similar to the one she had followed when she was in school and therefore Rose was assured that she would be getting the same amount of marks her mum did, or even more, if followed religiously.

One peak at the time table had given Rose the confidence that if she studied according to what was given in the time table, she would surely score twelve Outstanding OWLs.

However there was one major problem.

Her mother had no clue about the pattern of Quidditch practices.

Following the time-table had been easy in the beginning, but as days passed, number of hours spent studying too increased, which clashed a lot with her practices. Therefore, as to compensate on the time she used on the pitch, she accordingly reduced the amount of time she spent on sleeping. Therefore, she now slept for three hours instead of the usual seven she mostly had.

Most of her friends thought she was losing it.

But she knew they wouldn't understand why she was trying so hard.

Tucking a loose curl behind her ears, she wrote the meaning in her notebook, preferring to use a regular muggle pen and a notebook instead of parchment and quill, therefore saving space and paper.

"Studying too hard now, aren't you? I didn't see you at dinner."

She looked up to see a familiar pair of gray eyes, cheeks flushing immediately.

"Hey. Didn't expect to see you here", she said, smiling warmly.

"Why would you say that?" said Timothy Zabini, flashing a radiant smile as he pulled up the chair next to her, "My exams are round the corner as well, you know?"

"But they're like over a month away!"

"Can say the same to you!"

"But it is the OWLs!"

"And my exams are definitely tougher than yours, seeing that I'm in sixth year and you are in the fifth"

"But then you have only one year worth of syllabus, whereas we have five years worth!"

"Damn!" he said, after pausing for a second, "Have you always been that good at winning arguments?"

"Pretty much!" said Rose a little smugly, before lowering her eyes shyly as his eyes burned through hers. Next thing she knew was that he had brushed his foot against hers and hadn't pulled back. She cursed mentally as she felt her cheeks becoming hotter.

"Stop doing that!" she whispered furiously, her cheeks going a further shade of red as she stared at her notebook.

"Doing what?" he asked, sounding too innocent.

"You know what!" she hissed as she looked up at him, "I have to finish a lot of things for the nig-"

"Hold on! Don't you have a match to play tomorrow?"

"I do but-"

"No buts, Rose. You have got to have your eight hour sleep!" said Timothy, looking extremely serious now, "You can study tomorrow after the match."

"Tim, you don't get it!" said Rose a little hotly, "I just have to do well in all my subjects!"

"But not at the cost of being completely mental, Rose! Give yourself a break for the night! I'm a Quidditch player as well and therefore I understand the importance of getting a good night's sleep before a match!"

"Listen, if you've sat here to complain to me about my studying tactics, then I request you to leave now" said Rose, rubbing her eyes, "I have got a lot to finish. The sooner I finish, the earlier I can get to bed!"

"You do know I have your best interests at heart, despite you being on a rival team?"

Rose smiled softly, "I do. Now come on. Stop worrying. You know I'll be able to handle it."

"Yeah well. There're hardly any things you can't handle", he said, his eyes twinkling as Rose turned a further shade of red, "Come on now. Let's finish studying so that we can put you to bed."

Rose hid her face in her hands, now positively emanating heat, inciting a satisfied chuckle from Timothy.

Normally, she could handle the double meaning banter aimed at her. But then she had come to know that every teasing word or phrase from Timothy meant trouble, because she knew he meant it.

Another cause of worry during her study time: Timothy Zabini.

He was able to achieve what many people hadn't managed to do.

Distract her.

And he had been doing that for quite a while now.

Rose remembered the day when they sat together in the library for the first time. She had just arrived at Hogwarts after her winter break. The moment she had stepped inside the Joint Common Room, she was greeted with a sight of Scorpius Malfoy's lips latched on to a writhing Maria Sanchez's neck. The couple were getting extremely cozy on the table in the empty common room. Trying to ignore the feeling of getting stabbed repeatedly in her heart, she had turned around and left immediately.

She had walked straight into the library, repeatedly muttering, _I'm over him._

She knew that Scorpius had nothing but brotherly feelings for her. It was those stupid brotherly feelings that led him to sabotaging her date with Joseph Finnegan, and therefore causing a fall-out between them, the longest till now. In the first one week after the incident, he had apologized endlessly, but she had refused to listen to him. She couldn't stand the kind of protectiveness he felt for her. It was worse than what her real brother and cousins felt for her. She knew that if she forgave him, he would continue being a real hypocrite. He would continue meddling in her affairs and disapprove of every guy she'd want to date and meanwhile turn deaf when she would comment on worthiness of his girlfriends.

He gave up after a week of apologizing, finally listening to her message that she had passed through Albus (who wasn't getting the silent/ignorant treatment since he was an accomplice, much to his relief and Scorpius' indignation), telling him to leave her alone for good. He ignored her like she wanted him to. She continued sitting next to Albus in classes because she didn't want him suffering because of her and Scorpius again. So they both sat on either side of Albus and pretended that the other didn't exist. However despite what she had said and wanted, every sign of ignorance from his side cut her deeply, because he seemed so fine and happier without her. At times, she had wondered if Scorpius felt that he was better off without her.

She had grabbed a random book, and was looking for a corner in which she could sit and cry without being noticed, when she saw a table where Timothy was sitting. She knew how much it annoyed Scorpius when Timothy got friendly with her. The gears in her brain had shifted and she had realized that nothing would annoy Scorpius more, than her and Timothy hanging out together. But then she realized that Scorpius seemed to have no interest in her life at all.

With a bright and a friendly smile, she had approached him, asking him if she could sit with him on the table. A flummoxed Timothy had just gaped at her and nodded silently, while she sat opposite him. Small talk turned into a conversation and she had soon realized that it was very easy talking to him. He was like Albus and Scorpius rolled into one and therefore, the amount she spent on missing her friends had reduced. Therefore she couldn't see why they shouldn't hang out again.

They began meeting up at least once in a week to hang out. They sometimes met up in the library, and sometimes they patrolled together. The one thing that made things simple for her was that she had a lot of things in common with him. Therefore they always had some thing to talk about.

However, all of their meetings were kept secret, which wasn't that tough anyway. No one bothered to disturb her in the library because the only one who dared to trouble her while she was studying was currently not on talking terms with her. As for the patrols, Lysander's new girlfriend was Timothy's patrolling partner. She did not want another boy to walk away from her just because of her annoying cousins, save one because he approved of Timothy, and Scorpius.

She soon found herself wanting to meet up with him more often and realized that over time she had fallen for him, a fact that had fully crashed on her on that fateful evening almost a month ago, when she had walked into the prefect's bathroom for a bath, accidentally walking in on Timothy who had just finished wrapping the towel around his waist. Rose still couldn't really recall who had made the first move. All she remembered was that she was pinned against the wall, while Timothy's mouth moved hotly over hers. She remembered her hands running tantalizingly along towel at his waist, eliciting a feral growl from him and causing him to press his body further into hers. She remembered the heat building in her as she felt him turn hard against her, and a sudden movement of his body against hers that caused her to moan against his mouth as a jolt of pleasure traveled through her body. She remembered how embarrassed she had been because of the moan she had let out. So embarrassed that she had pulled back from the kiss that made her toenails curl with pleasure.

While he had been very amused, he had also told her very seriously that he was crazy about her, now more than ever, and wanted her in any form he could get. While she really, _really_ wanted to be with him, she knew that her OWLs were pretty much round the corner and were a lot more important. So she had told him that she wanted to wait till her exams got over before she could get together with him because she knew how relationships could distract someone from their studies. And he had said he'll wait, causing her to like him even more.

So they continued meeting up regularly to study and talk and the only difference was that there was a lot more playfulness and teasing. And they hadn't done anything beyond that to avoid getting distracted. However, these were the only stolen moments that made her life a little happier than the ruckus it was.

"Alright now. I cannot study any more", announced Timothy two hours later, closing his book with a loud bang, "Are you done yet?"

Rose looked at him, a ridiculous look on her face, "It is just-", She paused to look at Timothy's watch, "ten. We can use the library till at least twelve!"

"Rose", said Timothy sternly, grabbing her hand, and immediately Rose felt her cheeks warming again, "You have got to get some sleep. I know you have been sleeping for less than five hours."

"But how can you say that? I sleep for at least six hours!"

"The dark circles tell another story all together, sweetheart."

"You can see them? They're not that obvious!"

"You clearly underestimate me. Don't want to sound stalker-ish, but I have your face memorized. I can easily notice the smallest changes on them!"

Rose looked at him in disbelief for a second before saying, "Three hours of sleep have been okay for me till now. Ruining that routine may make me a little sick!"

"Are you sure Rose?"

"Absolutely!"

Timothy looked at her seriously for a minute before shrugging, "Fine. As long as you're sure about it, I cannot say much."

That was another good thing about him. He never forced her to do something she didn't want to.

He gathered his books and put them in the bag and stood up.

"So I'll see you tomorrow", he said, smiling softly at her, "Good night!"

"Am I not going to get a best of luck?" asked Rose, shaking her pen as it had stopped working.

"Is that so? Do you really need one?"

"Well. I am quite sure I couldn't do without one from you", she said, a little surprised at how direct she was about what she wanted. She bit her lower lip gently and looked up at him through her eyelashes.

The effect was immediate. His gray eyes darkened as he quirked his eyebrow at her.

"So you want your best of luck now?" he asked, his voice deeper and huskier than usual as he leaned down towards her, his face centimeters away from hers.

"I'd like that very much", she had barely whispered when he pressed his lips down on hers. She sighed softly against his mouth as he cupped her face. She slowly rose from her seat, turning impatient when he refused to deepen the kiss. The moment she was on her feet, he engulfed her in his arms, pressing her gently against the bookshelf.

"You don't think anyone will walk in on us?" he whispered against her mouth, his hands curving around her waist.

"The librarian is nearly blind and deaf. I can stay here all night and she wouldn't even notice", said Rose breathily. She paused to trace his lips with her tongue making him groan softly, "Nobody comes in this corner of the library. Can we kiss some more?"

"That is probably the best thing you've said this evening" he whispered, before slanting his mouth against hers.

They hadn't kissed even once since that evening. So she pressed herself into his body and wrapped her arms around his neck, marveling at just how amazing it felt to be with him and how he liked her for the girl she was and not for her name.

She felt a shock of electricity as he flicked his tongue against hers and this time the fire in her grew a lot more intense-

"If this is what you do in the library, I'm not surprised that you spend so much time here, Rose Weasley"

She quickly untangled herself from him, and turned to see Elora Longbottom leaning against the shelf and smirking at them.

Rose flushed bright red and looked at Timothy, whose hair was standing at odd angles and lips were red.

"Uh..so I'll see you tomorrow", he stuttered, picking up his bag and moving past Elora.

Rose just felt her cheeks turn hotter as Elora's smirk became wider.

"Shut up!" she said, returning back to her books but feeling extremely pleased nonetheless.

"What? I never said anything!" said Elora indignantly and sat on the seat next to Rose, "All right, now that I'm seated. Spill it."

* * *

"ROSE WAKE UP!"

Rose immediately opened her eyes. Blinking hard as she straightened up, she realized that she had fallen asleep in the library and now was being woken up by Albus.

"Wha-?" she said, yawning widely, "What's gotten your wand into a knot?" she added when she saw Albus looked panic-stricken.

"What the fuck are you still doing here, Rose? The match is about to start in less than an hour!"

"Which one?" she mumbled, feeling extremely sleepy and wondering if she could catch a few more hours of sleep. After all the studying she had done the previous night, she deserved a good amount of sleep.

"Your bloody final against Ravenclaw. Now get up and move!"

She nearly fell off her chair in shock.

She checked his watch immediately and her stomach dropped unpleasantly when she saw that the small needle was pointing at ten and the long one at three.

"Crap!" she squealed, getting off her seat and sprinting towards the Gryffindor tower to dress for the match, after Albus assured her that he'll take care of her things in the library. She ignored the various best of lucks thrown at her by her classmates as they all walked towards the pitch while she ran upstairs.

As she reached her dormitory, she slowed down having caught a stitch. She stumbled towards her trunk and took out her uniform and broomstick. Grabbing her Quidditch uniform and running into the bathroom, she turned on the shower and stripped immediately, wondering just how on earth she managed to oversleep.

She had talked to Elora for a good half an hour and had convinced her to not tell Albus ("I'm not talking to that git, remember?") or anybody else. She had then proceeded to study till at least five, because she remembered that colour of the sky had lightened considerably the last time she had looked outside.

After spending a good twenty minutes in the bathroom taking a shower and getting ready for the match, she rushed out of her dormitory with her broomstick, her wet hair flopping behind her.

She caught another stitch in her stomach as she came to halt right outside the Gryffindor locker room. She could hear a lot of shouting from inside. She carefully stepped inside, having a feeling that the shouting may have something to do with her.

"-DEMAND FOR RESIGNATION WHEN THAT RED HEADED WENCH-." James was roaring at the top of his voice while his teammates had stuffed their fingers into their ears. Clearly the shouting had been going on for quite a while.

"Keep it in, James", said Rose irritably, flicking her wand over her head to dry her hair, "I'm here!"

James turned to look at her, and for the first time ever in the sixteen years she's known him, she realized that he was actually angry. His jet black hair was standing up in all directions. She had a feeling he had been tugging at his hair for quite a bit.

"Rose Weasley", he growled, swelling like a bullfrog, "I have a bone to pick with you!"

"Look James", said Rose, a little alarmed at his behavior, "I know I'm late. But we have a match to play. Can we talk about this after the match?"

"She's right, James", said Samantha, patting his back gently, "After we steamroll Ravenclaw, this wouldn't even matter!"

"Yeah!" said Fred happily, tugging at his arm "Come on Jimmy, it's time to win the Cup!"

Giving her another glare, James turned to pick up his broom and moved towards the entry to the pitch.

Rose exhaled slowly, and moved to the entrance to the stadium, mounted her broom, taking off almost immediately.

She sighed happily, as she usually did when she flied. Whenever she mounted her broom, she could feel as if she had left everything on the ground. Her fears, her worries, her thoughts.

All she could think of when she flew was how much she _loved_ flying. She was a different person all together on the Quidditch pitch. She'd be a lot more aggressive, agile and graceful unlike her real self. She flew up to nearly a hundred feet before starting to take laps of the Quidditch pitch on her Firebolt, refreshing herself and waking herself completely.

She received a loud round of applause as she was passing the Gryffindor stands. In the crowd, she could see Albus wearing a Gryffindor scarf and sitting next to his new girlfriend, the girl of his dreams, Shirley Walters. Her stomach flipped when her eyes met a very familiar set of blue eyes, which belonged to the guy sitting next to Albus, and she looked away immediately.

She was astounded to know that Scorpius was supporting Gryffindor, despite his girlfriend being the Ravenclaw Seeker.

Maybe all wasn't lost between them.

* * *

"LADIES AND GENTLEMAN!" boomed Will Jordon's playful voice, "THE GODS TOO MUST REALLY WANT TO SEE THE MATCH. THE WEATHER HASN'T BEEN THIS CLEAR IN A LONG, LONG TIME!"

And Rose couldn't help but agree. The weather was too perfect for playing Quidditch. Skies were clear, but then at the same time, it wasn't so hot. There was a cool wind blowing as well. She flew quickly towards the middle of the Quidditch pitch, where all the players were positioning themselves before the various balls were released.

She could see James shaking Ryan Smith's hand, and wasn't surprised to see the glare on Smith's face. He was usually the most preferred target for Potter-Weasley pranks.

It looked like both of them were trying to crush each others' hands because Hooch had pulled their hands apart and was speaking to both of them with a scowl on her face.

The bludgers were released. Rose barely saw a sparkle of gold before it disappeared; the snitch too had been released. She clutched her broom hard, preparing to move out of the way as the Quaffle flew high into the air.

She heard a sharp blast of a whistle and she shot up as the Quidditch stadium roared into life.

The game had finally begun.

* * *

"It's Potter to Kingsley, Kingsley to Potter-Oh that was one SEXY pass to- Sorry Professor! – extraordinary pass to Watson-ooooooooooooh he dodges the bludger and he shoots and- and Smith saves. That was an ordinary save all right!"

Rose rolled her eyes. Jordan would not say anything other than that. He was after all a Gryffindor and most importantly, a really good family friend of the Weasleys.

She was currently flying on Gryffindor side of the field, close to the hoops. Just a while ago, she had seen the Snitch near Hugo's ankle, but it disappeared just when she was a few metres away causing her to brake immediately before she either crashed into Hugo or the hoops.

"Getting bored?" called Rose, as Hugo yawned widely.

"You'd think!" he replied back, his brown eyes glued at what was happening at the opposite end of the pitch.

Rose stifled a laugh, as she too looked ahead.

Ravenclaw still hadn't managed to score. In fact they didn't even get the opportunity to take a shot at the hoops, because they always ended up fumbling once they reached the scoring area. Rose wondered what Ryan Smith was thinking when he put Hannah Miller, Sienna Marquez and Rhonda Simons in his team as the chasers.

Maybe their very impressive chest sizes convinced him.

Fifteen minutes had passed by and Gryffindor was currently leading by thirty to nil, and in those past minutes, she hadn't managed to chase the snitch even once, which was extremely disappointing.

Maybe the snitch had gotten lost or something.

Her eyes darted around, looking for her rival for the snitch, and found her hovering close to the Gryffindor stands. She narrowed her eyes and found irritation creeping up in her as she saw Mariah turning back occasionally to look at Scorpius, who was looking back at her and smirking.

_Idiots. _

And then, her eyes fell on something else.

The snitch.

It was hovering above the Gryffindor stands, much above Mariah's line of sight. All that bimbo had to do was look up instead of looking down and the snitch would be in her hands.

Rose didn't think much of Maria otherwise because she was never tactical during a game. But she made up for it because of her broom, Silver Arrow 101, and therefore could fly at a speed people could only dare to imagine.

Rose gripped her broom tightly. She had to feint. It was now or never.

She took off immediately towards the Ravenclaw side of the pitch, the roar of the stadium now booming in her ear.

"AND Weasley seems to have spotted the snitch! LOOK AT THAT GIRL GO!"

Rose barely had the time to smirk, when she felt like she was being trailed.

She looked back for a split second; Mariah was following her and gaining on her with every millisecond.

Her trick had worked.

She could barely hear the squeals of the chasers as the two of them wove through them, one of them actually shouting, "Where on earth is the snitch?"

Figuring immediately that it could blow her cover, she swerved around just before she collided into one of the hoops and dropped downwards quickly.

Predictably, Maria wasn't able to slow down her broom enough to brake and turn, but pivoted her broom a bit so that she ended up passing neatly through the right hoop neatly instead of crashing into the pole.

The stadium exploded with cheers, as Will exclaimed loudly, "WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT? ONE SEEKER FEINTS, OTHER ONE JUST ABOUT SQUEEZES THROUGH THE GOAL POST! The seekers are putting up a delightful play here! I don't think there is anyone here who isn't enjoying this match!"

Rose couldn't disagree. Her heart was pumping violently inside her ribcage. There was a sense of exhilaration that was swelling inside her, something that only happened when the match she was taking part in was exciting.

She had underestimated her rival. Maria had improved on her flying immensely.

"Miller to Simons, Simons to Marquez, Marquez dives sharply-oh she drops the quaffle- excellent aim by Fred Weasley, my best friend of course- and Potter catches the quaffle just in time, he passes it to Watson-and he passes it to Kingsley- escapes the bludger aimed at her by Goldstein. Look at that girl-have been wanting to date her for a while but she just refuses to see past my-"

"BACK TO THE GAME JORDAN!" barked Professor McGonagall into the megaphone who was sitting next to him.

"Can't blame a guy for try- and she- THAT TURN WAS GORGEOUS AND- she shoots and she SCORES!"

Rose clapped loudly as she saw Ashley punching the air in triumph and exchanging fives with James and David. She really had scored an amazing goal. Smith couldn't have stopped that one at all.

She was about to move towards Ashley to congratulate, when, amidst the roars of the Gryffindors booming in the stadium, she heard that very flutter of wings next to her ear that made _everything_ around her disappear.

She had merely turned around to catch it when the Golden Snitch took off, trying to fly as far as it could, from her. She took off, wrapping her legs tightly around her broom, knowing that this was it. This was the flight of hers during which she would catch the snitch.

It was as if somebody had pressed the mute button, because she couldn't hear the roar of the stadium anymore. The only things she could hear was the roar of the wind and the fluttering sound of the snitch. She narrowed her eyes, training her eyes on the snitch as the sky around her turned darker as she flew higher. Mariah, miraculously, was nowhere around her.

The snitch was flying anything but straight. It would go up, down, left, right and spin or swivel.

She cursed as the snitch changed its direction again and started going even higher. She was sure that at least fifteen minutes had passed since she spotted the snitch and she was feeling tired and out of breath with each passing second.

She clutched her broomstick tightly between her hands and her legs. She had merely pivoted higher, when her head suddenly spun and everything went black.

* * *

"Miss Weasley. Miss Weasley…can you hear me?"

"Why isn't she responding? She has to respond! You told me that she would be waking up now! Rose, sweetheart! Please open your eyes!"

If there was a voice that could wake her up from the deepest of sleeps, it was her father's panicked one. But then something was wrong! Rose felt as if bricks had been placed on her eyelids. She wasn't able to open her eyes at all.

"She can definitely hear us. Her hands are twitching", came a nervous voice from her right which sounded very familiar.

Her mother's.

She tried opening her mouth to speak, but it seemed as if her lips had been glued together.

What on earth was going on?

From the smell around her, she realized that she had to be in the hospital wing. Her left hand seemed to be tied in a sling.

"Come on Rose. Open your eyes!" came Hugo's worried voice, "The house-elves have sent apple pies for you. You know I'll finish them if you don't wake up on time!"

A snort escaped her, and everyone sighed loudly.

"That's it Rose. Now open your eyes", came her father's hopeful voice.

Clenching her fists tightly, she finally opened her eyes, the bright sunlight streaming in through the windows of the Hospital Wing, piercing her eyes.

Rapidly blinking her eyes, faces of her worried looking parents came into view, who were looking down at her.

"Water", she whispered hoarsely, suddenly realizing how dry her throat was.

"Oh Yes!" said Ron Weasley loudly, surprising her, "Where is the water jug? WHERE IS IT? Madam Pomfrey. Rose wants water-."

"Hush. Mr. Weasley!" scolded Madam Pomfrey as she approached them, "This is a hospital wing! Silence is to be maintained all the time! Now Miss Weasley, Pinch your nose and take this in!"

Rose barely had time to reply before she felt her nose being pinched and something fiery go down her throat, causing her to cough.

"What is this thing you're giving my daughter?" asked Ron furiously, "She's coughing so badly! Rose dear…does it burn?"

"Honestly Ronald!" exclaimed Hermione Weasley, sounding amused, "It's a Revival Potion. Rose is waking up after three days now. You'd think she wouldn't feel her limbs right now!"

_Holy Mother Of-_

Three days.

She was so dead. Her whole schedule was ruined. She missed out on two deadlines that she had set for herself. What was she supposed to do now? Would she now have to completely miss out on Qui-?

She sat upright immediately, scaring her parents. She remembered that she was playing in the finals of the Quidditch Cup against Ravenclaw, and everything had turned black just when she was closing in on the snitch.

"Hugo. What happened in the finals?" she asked, a dread growing inside her.

_Did I actually faint in the final match__?_

An ugly expression replaced the happy look on Hugo's face.

"We lost", he muttered, running his hand through his vibrant hair.

Rose felt as if her heart had crashed into her stomach. Her eyes burned as immense disappointment built in her.

"By what margin?", she barely whispered, the world in front of her blurring, as tears escaped her eyes.

"Ten points. We lost hundred and forty to hundred and fifty"

She pressed her palm against her forehead, and closed her eyes.

Not only did she not finish her studies on time, she had failed her team. She had failed James. That too in the finals.

She was nothing less than a failure.

A choked sob escaped her as her father hurriedly put his arm around her, mumbling, "It's all right Rosie. There had to be a time when you didn't catch the snitch…"

Who on earth did she think she was? Did she actually think she was as good as her parents to accomplish almost everything that they had achieved in their own time?

Whether she thought so or not, others definitely did. Her teachers always spoke very highly of her parents, and often compared her achievements with those of her parents. As much it thrilled her that she was doing as well as her parents did or even better, the constant comparison was tiring. She hoped that maybe one day, everyone will see her as Rose Weasley and not Ron and Hermione Weasley's daughter. Five years had gone by and she was still living in her parents' shadows.

She had decided that this year she would win the Quidditch Cup for her house and get twelve Outstanding OWLS. Then maybe, people would finally understand that she was a different person altogether!

However, one of her dreams had gone down the drain. The chances of her fulfilling the other task seemed pretty bleak now.

"Mr. Weasley", came Madam Pomfrey's voice from next to her, "Her low blood pressure was the reason why she fainted in the middle of the match. Haven't you been taking enough rest, Ms. Weasley?"

Rose merely grunted, crippling disappointment clawing at her stomach. Was she so weak that she couldn't even handle the lack of few hours of sleep?

The nurse merely looked at her sternly over her spectacles, and then walked off, saying that she would be back in a few minutes.

"Rosie?" came her father's concerned voice, "Is everything all right?"

And then just like that, she broke down, full-fledged sobs racking her body. Everything that had bothering her in the past few months came spilling out of her mouth.

She was tired of living in their shadow, she blubbered, but nobody seemed to understand. Trying to keep up with the standards that they had set was killing her everyday. She was just so very, _very_ tired.

Her father had wrapped his arms even tighter around her, while she continued crying and snuggled closer to him.

Her sobs died down after a few minutes, and she hiccupped once in a while.

"Rose. Why didn't you talk to us about this before?"

Rose pulled away from her father's embrace to look at her mother, whose eyes were gleaming with tears.

"I didn't know how to bring it up", said Rose softly, now staring at the bed covers, "I am so sorry!"

"Rosie. Look at me" came her father's rather firm voice. She turned to look up at him.

"I was the youngest of the million sons my parents had. Everybody other than me was known or was popular for a different reason", he started slowly, a sad smile on his face, "Your uncle Bill; he was the oldest and perhaps the coolest Head Boy anybody could ever think of. Your uncle Charlie had been the youngest dragon trainer in ages. He started working in Romania at the age of eighteen; most of the wizards who work there are usually twenty two. Percy had always been a complete git and a real snob, but he was _brilliant_! Not many could compare to the intelligence he had. Fred and George were the funny ones, they could make anybody laugh. And your Aunt Ginny- well, Mum had always wanted a girl but she was very brave and popular. So you have no idea how awful I used to feel for not having anything that set me apart for them. Hell, I always thought that my parents loved Harry more than me. I always thought I was good for nothing."

"But you aren't!" squeaked Rose indignantly.

"Yeah, I realized that over time."

"You mean, I made you realize that!" said Hermione amusedly.

"Oh go on. You always want credit don't you?" teased Ron, causing her to roll her eyes.

"Honey", her mother said, looking at her seriously, "I too had to work hard to make my name. No one expected much from me in the beginning since I was a muggle-born. Most of them found it hard to believe that it was a muggle born who was getting the highest marks at Hogwarts. It was so much harder when people did not believe or accept whatever I had achieved, just because of my parentage."

Rose looked down embarrassedly. At least people thought she was capable of something, even if it was due to her parentage.

Ron gently pulled her chin up, looked her in the eyes and said, "Attending Hogwarts is not only about studies or playing Quidditch. It is about discovering who you are. In the end, you only have to be answerable to yourself. So forget what other people think of you! You can be, or do, anything you want, Rosie. If you can't balance studying and playing Quidditch together, it's okay with us if you give priority to either. You won't hear any of us complaining as long as you are absolutely happy with whatever you're doing. I have always been proud of you because of the _person you are_. Your achievements come secondary. We love you, and we will always be there for you."

Rose looked at her parents through her tear-filled eyes. She truly was awful to think even for a second that she was unlucky because of the set of parents she had.

"We had this talk with Hugo last summer. You could've talked to him, you know?"

"You got the talk?" asked Rose, facing her brother who was sitting casually on the bed adjacent to hers.

"Yeah", he said, his ears turning red as he ran his hand through his hair, "It was so weird. I had my inhibitions before I talked to them because you seemed _so fine_ with the constant comparisons. I thought I was being an idiot about the whole issue. But then since I have inherited Dad's trait of being oh so subtle, I kind of snapped in the summer and then the three of us had a talk."

"We wanted to talk to you in the summer about it" said Hermione anxiously, "But we thought that you were doing just fine and perhaps were ignoring the comparisons. And bringing the topic up with you, may cause you to think about it if you hadn't been thinking about it before."

"And why didn't you ever talk to Albus or Malfoy about this thing?" asked Ron curiously.

"How did you know that I haven't talked to them?" exclaimed Rose, her heart beating a little faster.

"Albus was given this talk by his father during the Christmas break of his first year itself. He was constantly compared to his father, and he didn't like it a bit", said Hermione, "Harry talked to him and set the records straight. Hasn't he told you about this? As for Scorpius, I suppose he is suffering the hardest. He is Draco Malfoy's son. People wouldn't believe he has good intentions mainly because of his past. They expect him to be his father which I know he's not. And your father definitely agrees now", she finished, looking pointedly at her husband, who merely shrugged.

Rose looked curiously at her father, who didn't say a single thing against Scorpius. Usually he had a lot to say about him.

"If you had talked to them", said Ron, "You wouldn't have found yourself in this situation, and would not have required to talk to us. That's how we know."

"And I am quite sure Scorpius must have pissed in his pants before he talked to Dad about the problems you were going through!" snorted Hugo, but Rose's heart had stopped.

"Sc- Scorpius told you about this?" spluttered Rose, looking at her father incredulously.

"He talked to us about an hour before you woke up. He must know you very well, perhaps better than Albus, to know about your problems even though you weren't telling him anything." said Hermione, a knowing look in her eye that Rose couldn't figure, "Ron had a hard time believing him. But the young man got his point through. He told us not to tell you about this. But we figured you ought to know about the wonderful friend you have, Rose."

Rose placed her hand over her heart that was now beating a bruise against her ribcage, trying to calm it down.

She hadn't talked to Scorpius in _months_. She had thought their friendship was as good as over. But he never gave up. He was looking out for her. As always.

She had to talk to him. Now.

"I need to go", said Rose hurriedly, pushing off her bed covers, taking her family by surprise.

"Not now. Ms. Weasley", came Madam Pomfrey's voice, as she walked towards them holding a smoking goblet, "You would be discharged today evening, good as new. So I suggest you take rest now."

"So we'll take leave now", said Ron, getting up from the bed, "Take care, Rosie."

"Remember Honey. You have us to talk to. Don't ever think you're lonely" said her mother softly, before pressing her lips against her cheek.

"I wont", replied Rose, a smile breaking on her face, "I love you."

"We love you too" said her father smiling back before pressing a kiss against her forehead.

"Now, now Ms. Weasley. Have this potion immediately. I need to wake up Mr. Smith and give him his dose as well", said Madam Pomfrey.

"Mr. Smith?" exclaimed Rose. She turned to her left and saw Ryan Smith lying three beds away from her. He was sleeping peacefully with his right leg fully plastered, and his head heavily bandaged "What happened to him?"

Hugo snorted, "When you, uh, fainted up in the sky, he kind of came in the way while you were falling. You took him down as well. We tried to score as many goals as possible before Sanchez caught the snitch. The whistle blew just seconds before James got in our fifteenth goal. He was very upset about the narrow defeat. But seeing a bandaged Smith cheered James up immensely. And speaking of James, he still wants you to be on the team, despite the debacle. I have a feeling Scorpius talked to him too. So let James know whatever your final decision is."

"It's a pity you didn't break his pretty face", said Ron gruffly, looking pointedly over at Smith's bed, "It would have shut his father up for a while about how the Quidditch scouts are already asking for him."

"She needs some rest now!" interrupted Madam Pomfrey sternly, "Go. Now."

Rose smiled at her family as they waved at her while leaving. She was now feeling infinitely better and happier and just couldn't stop smiling. Now she could study at her own pace and according to her wish. Now she could play as much Quidditch as she wanted. Now she could finally be Timothy's girlfriend_…_

But before all that, she had to make amends with Scorpius.

* * *

Rose felt her breath hitch when she saw Scorpius enter Joint Common Room with his bag, his hair ruffled and clothes crinkled. She could guess where he had been, but she didn't feel any bit of jealousy this time. He was such _an amazing_ friend that his brilliant nature made up for the fact that he wasn't romantically inclined towards her.

She was sure he hadn't seen her. She was sitting one of the corners of the room, barely visible to anyone entering from the door. She saw him sit at their usual seats by the Joint Common Room, only that he was sitting in her chair. She hadn't sat in that place for such a long time. She missed that cushiony seat of hers.

And more than anything in the world, she missed _him_.

Her heart gave a painful squeeze when she remembered that not having him around to be the most awful thing that could have happened to her. She silently prayed that she and Scorpius should never have a fallout which lasted this long or even longer than this.

Her palms feeling sweaty, she stood up from her seat and walked towards him. She was glad that the room was scarcely occupied. She did not want many people to witness it if Scorpius made a big scene and refused to talk to her.

She walked up to him and stared down at his platinum blonde hair. A ten second wait proved that he hadn't noticed her standing behind him.

"You're sitting in my chair", she blurted, feeling stupid all of a sudden.

His shoulders tensed the moment he heard her voice. However, without looking at her, he said, "Go find another one"

Hearing those same words in the same annoyed tone caused warmth flood her veins, and her lungs to expand joyfully. Maybe making up with him won't be that hard. Now barely suppressing her smile, she said, "Get out of my chair you git!"

She saw him relax and he said, "Well make me!" and then gripped the arm rests of the chair tightly.

Usually she jinxed him to get him out of the chair, but this time she figured it should be a little different. She waved her wand and Vanished the front legs of the chair, causing the chair to lose balance, and Scorpius to fall flat on his face.

She snorted loudly as Scorpius cursed fluently while he sat up.

Her laughs subsided as her eyes locked with his, and suddenly felt warmth flooding her cheeks. She lowered her eyes, feeling as if he could see through her with his penetrating gaze.

"So-uh", she mumbled, before swishing her wand, and making the legs of the chair reappear, "This happens to be my chair, and now-,"

She had barely completed her sentence when she felt Scorpius pulling her down by her waist, and she fell soundly on the carpet next to him.

"What was that for?" she exclaimed, rubbing her backside.

"If I don't get to sit on that chair, then no one can sit on it", said Scorpius with an air of superiority.

"But it isn't your chair!" exclaimed Rose indignantly, "If you look carefully my arse print would be visible on that chair!"

"But my arse print has been covering yours for a few months now, since you haven't hung out with us in a long while!"

Rose fell silent as Scorpius' eyes widened in realization of the words that had just come out of his mouth.

"Uh.." he mumbled, as he ran his hand through his hair, "I don't-"

Rose silenced him by throwing herself on him, and almost causing Scorpius to lose his balance as she wrapped her arms around his neck, burying herself in the crook of his neck.

Her entire body sagged in relief when she felt his arms wound themselves around her waist tightly.

They sat like that for eons, years, months, weeks it seemed, before they finally pulled back from the hug.

"I know what I'm apologizing for", breathed Scorpius, his eyes bright and a barely suppressed smile floating on his face, "What are you apologizing for?"

"I'm sorry for being so unforgiving", said Rose shyly, her cheeks heating up again as his eyes burned through hers, "And I just wanted to thank you for talking to Mum and Dad."

Scorpius turned a bright red, much to her amusement.

"I told them not to tell you about it!" he mumbled, looking embarrassed as he turned away to look at the fire hearth.

"Why did you do it?"

The question escaped her mouth before she even realized it.

"What do you mean by why?" asked Scorpius incredulously, "I knew you were losing your sanity and control over things Rose-!"

"HOW?"

"I had to just look at you. And BAM! Everything's that had been bothering you would just surface in your eyes. You barely ate food, looked very sleepy in classes. Elora told me that you barely talked to anyone. Albus himself said that you barely spent time with him. Even though I made sure I wasn't with him whenever he tried to talk to you. You were either in classes, or the library, or the Quidditch pitch. You even skipped the last two Hogsmeade weekends. I could see it and _feel_ it. You fainted in the middle of a Quidditch match! My heart had stopped when I saw you falling towards the ground. I swear I have never been more scared and worried in my life! Albus was nearly in tears when you were brought to the hospital wing; the sight wasn't too pretty! Things were a little better when we came to know that your injuries wont have any long-lasting effects. But it made me realize that I could lose you to your insane desire of outshine your parents! I couldn't lose you, Rose. Life was already so hard with you not being around to reprimand me, help me with homework, talk to, or to just give me company! The thought of you dying- I-I just knew I had to talk to someone who could knock sense into you before it was too late!"

Rose lowered her eyes from his face, feeling her face flush furiously as blood pounded in her head and her heart raced away to glory.

Scorpius had to stop being this wonderful. He had to stop caring so much for her. He had to stop making her believe that she was so important to him. It took her quite an effort to feel okay about him dating other girls. She was very well on the verge of getting over him. But if he kept doing such things, she knew she was screwed for eternity.

Shaking her head, she looked carefully at him, wondering if she should ask him something that had been bothering her for a while.

"So are the comparisons really bad?" she asked timidly, biting her lower lip.

Scorpius frowned at her question and Rose blanched as his lips pressed into a thin line.

"I'm sorry" she said immediately, sitting upright, "I shouldn't have-!"

"Nah! It's okay", said Scorpius, shaking his head, "It is indeed really pissing off when people taunt me and remind me that my father was a Death Eater. People cannot understand that he has changed and therefore, if I am like my father like everyone says, I am not against muggleborns, or half-bloods. Everyone thinks that I am a minion of Voldemort, hell bent on clearing the wizarding world of impure blood. It's so-!"

Scorpius let out a frustrated growl and buried his hands in his hair for a minute, tugging at it before turning to look at her.

"Do you think it's weird that I want to become an Auror?" he asked her quietly, his eyes searching hers.

Rose looked back at him, taken aback. Out of all the things she had expected him to become, him being an Auror was certainly one of the last. It had to do nothing with the fact he was Draco Malfoy's son, but more because she never thought he would like to go for something so serious and dangerous.

"It's not weird", said Rose slowly, trying to phrase her answer in the best way possible, "But it is surprising! Why do you want to become an Auror?"

"Because it sounds cool, and you'll get laid a lot more often", said Scorpius sheepishly, causing her to break into a fit of giggles.

The response was so…_Scorpius_.

Once her giggles subsided, she looked pointedly at him, asking him for the real reason.

"Because it's a big thing you know", said Scorpius softly, "I know it's a hard job. I have heard that the training is perhaps the toughest for any job. But when you do become an Auror, you are working towards making the world a better and safer place to live in. And the thought of helping people out that way, sounds really good. I haven't talked to anyone about it yet, even Albus. Figured that I ought to talk to you before I tell him. He might think I'm copying him, that silly git. He thinks that…"

She sighed softly. Scorpius was way too brilliant. It will indeed take her a long time to completely get over him.

"And of course, girls think Aurors are hot! Look at Harry Potter and even your dad. They're quite popular even though they're in their forties!"

"Well, they happen to be pretty good-looking!" said Rose, grinning, "You on the other hand are nowhere close to them when it comes to the looks!"

_Liar!_

"I am better than them!" said Scorpius indignantly.

_You truly have no idea!_

"Dream on Malfoy!"

"Oh shut up! I am way better looking than them! I may even end up having scars, looking completely like a bad boy!" he said, flexing his arms, causing her to break out in giggles again.

"Since I'll be a Healer, I'll treat those scars, and bam! Those girls will leave you in peace!" she teased.

Scorpius frowned at her, making her worry. Had she said anything wrong?

"You never told me that you want to be a Healer!" he asked, looking surprised.

Had she said that she would be a Healer? She had made a list of career options during the winter break. Healer was definitely one of the options. But she didn't give much importance to it, as she cared more about what her parents wanted her to be. So she had zeroed in on working in the ministry or taking up Quidditch as a profession.

But now that her parents had said that she could be anything she wanted, she wondered if becoming a Healer was something could consider.

Being a Healer was the most responsible and selfless job. It would take a lot of her time. She may barely have time to do other things which included sleeping eating. But she knew every effort she put in would be worth it. She would be helping people becoming better. She would be bringing smiles and happiness in other people's lives. A warm feeling engulfed her as she imagined herself in the Healer robes and sitting in her office, prescribing the potions for a child who was her patient.

Scorpius was right. Thought of helping people out for a living, indeed, felt good.

"I do want to be a Healer!" said Rose, a wide smile breaking on to her face, "For reasons similar to yours. And of course, since you and Albus are both going to be Aurors, someone has to be there to make sure that all the limbs are in place!"

"Charming Weasley. But I can assure you, I'll always have my limbs in place. I mean who would want to hurt such a guy with such a beautiful face and an incredibly gorgeous body?"

"Either you are very conceited or are swinging onto the other side! Beautiful face? Really?"

"Hey!"

Rose felt herself relax as she and Scorpius resumed what they were very good at; arguing.

Everything now seemed to be falling in place, now that she was back on talking terms with her best friend and knew what she really wanted from her life.

She realized that being herself and doing what her heart wanted was the way to be. She knew she would face hiccups and landslides while doing so. But as long as she had her family behind her, she couldn't care less. And although it was never going to happen, by chance if her family ever deserted her, she knew that the boy sitting in front of her would always be there for her. She knew he hadn't really said it. But actions spoke louder than words.

With that comforting thought she got up and sat in her chair, ignoring Scorpius' indignant '_Hey! We're not finished yet!' _and watched as Scorpius gave up on getting her to argue back and sat on the chair opposite hers, not wasting a second in asking for help on a transfiguration assignment which needed to be submitted tomorrow.

* * *

**AN:-**

**So let me know if I have lost my touch. I could _really_ use some support. **

**Thank you for reading.**

**PS: MGIGO's next chapter should be coming up soon. Had sent the chapter to beta some time back. Expecting it back soon. So keep an eye out for it!**


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